Enhancing Search Engine Usability: A Comprehensive Overview of UI Paradigms and User Behavior
This document explores the usability issues of search engines and different UI paradigms, including Ajax and natural language processing (NLP). It outlines common problems such as poor query formulation and sub-optimal search results, highlighting user behavior patterns and expectations. The text provides strategies for improving query design and interpretations while analyzing various search engine interfaces. It also discusses advanced search features and the integration of interactive technologies like Ajax for better user experience.
Enhancing Search Engine Usability: A Comprehensive Overview of UI Paradigms and User Behavior
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Presentation Transcript
Search Engine Usability Taly Sharon www.sharon-it.com taly@sharon-it.com sharont@alum.mit.edu www.sharon-it.com
Agenda • Search Engines Issues • Search Engines UI Paradigms • Including Ajax, query formulation and results • Demonstration links (see www.sharon-it.com/new.html) • References www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines Issues • How to phrase query? • How to interpret query? • How to present results? • Additional Problem: Web Users (see next)! www.sharon-it.com
Make poor queries short (3.3 terms average) imprecise terms sub-optimal syntax (80% without operators) low effort Wide variance on Needs Expectations Knowledge Bandwidth (and platforms) Specific behavior 85% look over one resultscreen only 78% of queries notmodified Web Users? www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines UI Paradigms Simple Overloaded Keywords Natural (NLP) User Control Automatic Static Dynamic (Ajax) Textual Graphical www.sharon-it.com
Simple Overloaded Google: Lean and Mean? www.sharon-it.com
Yahoo! www.sharon-it.com
search.Yahoo.com www.sharon-it.com
Google in 1998 – looking up at Yahoo!? Source: Internet archive’s Wayback machine www.archive.org www.sharon-it.com
Google Personalized www.sharon-it.com
Advanced www.sharon-it.com
MSN Search Builder www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines UI Paradigms Simple Overloaded Keywords Natural (NLP) User Control Automatic Static Dynamic (Ajax) Textual Graphical www.sharon-it.com
Keywords Natural (NLP) • Problem: How to formulate query? • Solution 1: use Refine, Google Suggest • Solution 2: use questions and answers engines - natural language processing (NLP) www.sharon-it.com
Excite www.sharon-it.com
Google Suggest • As you type – you get query suggestions and number of results per query. • labs.google.com/suggest www.sharon-it.com
Q&A Engines (Natural Language) • General SEs Q&A: • Google • Yahoo • MSN • Q&A Engines: • Ask • Brainboost • Lexxe www.sharon-it.com
(Dis)Advantages • Advantages: • quick and dirty answer. • Disadvantages: • often fail • Inaccurate • Who murdered JFK “Why the Fed Murdered JFK” (brainboost) • Who is the prime minister of Israel? Ariel Sharon (May 2006) • non-verified sources • slow www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines UI Paradigms Simple Overloaded Keywords Natural (NLP) User Control Automatic Static Dynamic (Ajax) Textual Graphical www.sharon-it.com
Meta Search Engine (MSE) Google · Yahoo · Ask About ·LookSmart· OvertureFindWhat MetaCrawler Yahoo Web Crawler Open Text Lycos InfoSeek Inktomi Galaxy Excite www.sharon-it.com
Vivisimo: link: Not supported? www.sharon-it.com
Problems of MSEs • Limited support of advanced search options. • Limited number (~10) of results from each search engine. • Sponsored results from the SEs are not highlighted. • Does the average user know this? www.sharon-it.com
Query Results • Examples of User Interface in Query Results’ pages : • Google • Clusty/Vivisimo • A9 • Exalead • KartOO (see Graphical) www.sharon-it.com
Clusty www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines UI Paradigms Simple Overloaded Keywords Natural (NLP) User Control Automatic Static Dynamic (Ajax) Textual Graphical www.sharon-it.com
Ajax Asynchronous JavaScript and XML www.sharon-it.com
Ajax • Asynchronous JavaScript and XML • A Web 2.0 technology • Fast (real-time) interactive page updates - directly from the database • Ajax applications • Try it yourself - Google Web Toolkit (GWT) www.sharon-it.com
Example Ajax Applications • Google Maps/Local (Yahoo, A9) • Housing Maps • Google Suggest • Windows live • Yahoo! Instant Search • GMail • And many more.. www.sharon-it.com
HousingMaps • Mash-up of Google maps and Craigs list rentals • Mash-up are websites that are built from pieces of other websites • http://www.housingmaps.com/ www.sharon-it.com
Ajax Pros/Cons • Pros • Interactivity! • Cons • might easily break the expected behavior of the browser's back button • difficult for a user to bookmark a particular state of the application • users might experience delay in the interface of the web application • requires users to have JavaScript (or ActiveX) enabled in their browsers • a challenge for developers interested in adhering to WAI accessibility guidelines. www.sharon-it.com
Yahoo! Instant • Example of slow reaction • Good implementation of “back” • instant.search.yahoo.com www.sharon-it.com
AlltheWeb LiveSearch • Yahoo’s AlltheWeb now has a new Livesearch feature. • It takes the Google Suggest approach a step further. • You will instantly see the results to the right side. • http://livesearch.alltheweb.com/?ek=1 www.sharon-it.com
Search Engines UI Paradigms Simple Overloaded Keywords Natural (NLP) User Control Automatic Static Dynamic (Ajax) Textual Graphical www.sharon-it.com
Visual/Graphical Search Engines • KartOO www.kartOO.com • TouchGraph www.sharon-it.com
Examples • Query: “Taly Sharon” • Main webpage, www.sharon-it.com • co-authors (selker, lieberman, frank, lockerd, etc.) • Conferences (IFLA, CHI, SigGraph, etc.) • Related keywords (mostly from research/papers) • Other related: GoogleGuide.com • Query: www.sharon-it.com (website) www.sharon-it.com
(Dis)Advantages • Advantages: • very visual, easy to detect trends. • Useful to find connections • Disadvantages: • Requires training • Easy disorientation www.sharon-it.com
Demonstration Links • Google www.google.com • Yahoo www.yahoo.com • Yahoo Search Interface search.yahoo.com • Google 1998 (from Internet Archive) http://web.archive.org/web/19981111183552/http://google.stanford.edu/ • Yahoo Advanced search.yahoo.com/web/advanced?ei=UTF-8 • Google Personalized www.google.com/ig • MSN Search Builder search.msn.co.il • Excite www.excite.com • Google Suggest labs.google.com/suggest • Ask www.ask.com • Brainboost www.brainboost.com • Lexxe www.lexxe.com • Dogpile www.dogpile.com • Vivisimo www.vivisimo.com • Clusty www.clusty.com • A9 www.a9.com • Exalead www.exalead.com • Google Maps maps.google.com • Housing Maps www.housingmaps.com • A9 maps maps.a9.com • Windows live www.live.com • Yahoo Instant instant.search.yahoo.com • Alltheweb Livesearch livesearch.alltheweb.com/?ek=1 • Kartoo www.kartoo.com www.sharon-it.com
References • Ajax – wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX • http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/index.php?p=27 • http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/downloads/2006AnalystDay.pdf • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4900742.stm • http://www.dsi.uniroma1.it/~ale//BICI/IR/Slides/bertinoro8.pdf www.sharon-it.com
