{"id":23,"date":"2008-02-26T13:45:10","date_gmt":"2008-02-26T19:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/post.aspx?id=80887e3f-0e05-47ce-8cd0-503f114555aa"},"modified":"2008-02-26T13:45:10","modified_gmt":"2008-02-26T19:45:10","slug":"how-do-you-do-search-and-filtering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/23","title":{"rendered":"How do you do search and filtering?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re creating a user interface for searching, what’s your approach?<\/p>\n

Something simple?<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

What happens after the results is presented? Can the user filter and refine the results to find exactly what they want? Are they forced to use an "advanced" mode? Or, scroll through pages upon pages of results hoping to find the right match?<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in making a better search, read Pattern: Refining Search<\/a> from Looks Good Works Well<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a>One of the most recent filtering searches I’ve used is from NewEgg<\/a>. I was trying to find a new quiet graphics card to replace the hair drier model I’ve currently got installed. It’s clear that NewEgg is attempting to cater to many types of users. They have three different types of searches! The one with the most potential, but doesn’t necessarily follow all of the suggestions in the blog post linked above is the Guided Search. What I like about this search is that it provides feedback before I make a selection. For example, in the screen shot, I can see that there are 6 graphics cards that are priced between $10 – $25. If I click on that link, the list is updated with a new set of choices.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a>The Advanced Search takes the old school approach, one where you can almost imagine the SQL query that is constructed when the user hits the "Search" button. My simple complaint with this one is that my searches usually end up with no results as I have "over-specified" my requirements. I won’t know this until I hit the search button though. Worse, I don’t often know what to remove or simply in the search. It’s too hit and miss. <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> Finally, they offer a "Power Search." This search expands the drop-down list idea and allows the user to multiple select from each category. Again, until the search is completed, there’s no sense of whether a search will generate any results. Hardly a spectacular user experience. <\/p>\n

Although not perfect, the Guided Search is the most discoverable and friendly search that NewEgg offers to the general consumer. It uses Ajax nicely to update the results. One major challenge with the Guided Search from a user perspective is that the list is constantly changing, which means that the user must reorient themselves after each click. <\/p>\n

Do you have any favorite search and filtering experiences you’d care to share? Leave a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re creating a user interface for searching, what’s your approach? Something simple? What happens after the results is presented? Can the user filter and refine the results to find exactly what they want? Are they forced to use an "advanced" mode? Or, scroll through pages upon pages of results hoping to find the right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5QIe-n","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":78,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/78","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":0},"title":"How to use Vista’s Search Folders (You should try them!)","date":"April 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you aren't using Vista's Search Folders yet, you should! (At least try them!). Here's how to create one. I'll use PSD files in this example. PSD files are files created by Photoshop. But you can substitute any file type as you follow along. First, start Windows Search: Windows Start\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/image-thumb9.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1125,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1125","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":1},"title":"Apple’s Store Policies Regarding Amateur Applications","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"From Read Write Web, \u201cApple Says \u2018We Have Enough Fart Apps,\u2019 Here\u2019s Why That\u2019s Wrong.\u201d Some of the language in the developer agreement is rather strong and very direct. For example, Apple proclaims that it has \"lots of serious developers who don't want their quality apps to be surrounded by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1705,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1705","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":2},"title":"WinRT\/Xaml\/AKA Metro DataTemplate selection based on Data Types","date":"August 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You may have noticed that WinRT does not have automatic resolution of a DataTemplate based on the data type of object added to an ItemsControl. While unfortunate as this behavior is quite handy, it\u2019s not too difficult to replicate the functionality using a DataTemplateSelector. WPF for example, could do something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coding"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1749,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1749","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":3},"title":"Nest Update #12: Software at 3.0 with New Features","date":"October 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As the blogosphere exploded yesterday with news of a second generation Nest thermostat and a new major version of the software (for the thermostats and the controllers such as the web site and various SmartPhones), I wondered what impact the new software and hardware would have on average users, like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recommendations"","img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0630","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/IMG_0630.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/388","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":4},"title":"Silverlight Weather Demonstration","date":"June 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Demonstration available here. (You'll need to wait for a moment while it loads the first time). I've created a reasonably simple, yet multi-technology (and discipline) demonstration using Silverlight for the user interface and ASP.NET as the back-end. The demonstration uses: Silverlight 2.0 Data binding Delayed downloading of images \"Web services\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coding"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/image21.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1340,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1340","url_meta":{"origin":23,"position":5},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #1","date":"December 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After a few weeks of using the Nest thermostat, I\u2019ve got a few more comments that I\u2019d like to share. (Here\u2019s my post about the installation). The learning feature honestly hasn\u2019t been very useful in the first few weeks. It\u2019s apparently easily confused by days that you're home unexpectedly (for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/image_thumb3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}