April 9, 2009 at 13:20Choosing a way to find information
John McCarthy and Patrick Bergel provide the following comparison of search interfaces:
They contrast a standard search engine with one text field for entering a query to an organized directory.
In their abstracts Search Without Keywords, authors say that people use catalogs more readily. They are more involved in the search process and their satisfaction is higher. In general, they urge in every way to prefer a catholic method of organizing and searching for information.
Of course, a moot point. Time shows that both systems are justified in different cases. I believe that this plate is at least useful for planning the search interface on your site. Depending on what people need from the information on the site, one or another option can be implemented.
On my site you can find the full version of McCarthy and Bergel's theses, as well as a couple of other articles on user behavior and search.
They contrast a standard search engine with one text field for entering a query to an organized directory.
In their abstracts Search Without Keywords, authors say that people use catalogs more readily. They are more involved in the search process and their satisfaction is higher. In general, they urge in every way to prefer a catholic method of organizing and searching for information.
Of course, a moot point. Time shows that both systems are justified in different cases. I believe that this plate is at least useful for planning the search interface on your site. Depending on what people need from the information on the site, one or another option can be implemented.
On my site you can find the full version of McCarthy and Bergel's theses, as well as a couple of other articles on user behavior and search.