The Usability of Search

Avi Rappoport

Search Tools Consulting / SearchTools.com

Thunderlizard Web Design World Seattle

July 21, 2000

• Introduction

• How Search Engines Work

  • Indexing

  • Searching

• Match Index and Search To Data

• Special Features of Indexing

• Database vs. Text Search

• Indexing: Gathering Data

• Indexing: Organizing Data

• Searching Issues: Features

• Search Form Interface Design

• Advanced Forms

• Results Pages

• Results Items

• Relevance Ranking is Vital!

• Coping with Too Many Results

• Coping with Zero Matches

• Automated & Repeating Searches

• Usability Testing

• Usability Testing: What to Look For

• Log File Analysis

• Log File Analysis: What to Look For

• Conclusion