Suggestion for search-related improvement

[Harriet Truscott]

A user recently reported confusion about how to search Sakai. He was in
Worksite Setup, and saw a  list of all sites, a text box, and a button
marked 'Search'. He assumed that this search box searched the contents of
all the sites listed below it. As we know, it actually searches for site
titles only.

Could we clarify this, do you think?

My suggestions were:
1) Add some (greyed-out) hint text in the search text box reading 'Search
for a site by name' (or something similar)
2) Re-name 'Search' button 'Find sites'

There may be other places where we should clarify exactly what the tool
search is searching.

What do people think?

Best wishes

Harriet Truscott

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
University of Cambridge
16 Mill Lane
Cambridge
01223 765 040


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[hreeves]

That sounds like a great idea to me, Harriet. I'm certain as you say that there are other areas of the interface that could use clarification as to what a user is searching for. We'll try to come up with a list of these to share.


Hannah



----- Original Message -----
From: "Harriet Truscott" <harriet@...>
To: "Sakai UI UI" <sakai-dg-ui@...>
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:55:40 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Suggestion for search-related improvement


A user recently reported confusion about how to search Sakai. He was in
Worksite Setup, and saw a  list of all sites, a text box, and a button
marked 'Search'. He assumed that this search box searched the contents of
all the sites listed below it. As we know, it actually searches for site
titles only.

Could we clarify this, do you think?

My suggestions were:
1) Add some (greyed-out) hint text in the search text box reading 'Search
for a site by name' (or something similar)
2) Re-name 'Search' button 'Find sites'

There may be other places where we should clarify exactly what the tool
search is searching.

What do people think?

Best wishes

Harriet Truscott

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
University of Cambridge
16 Mill Lane
Cambridge
01223 765 040


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.23.0/1382 - Release Date: 16/04/2008
17:34

[see attachment: "message0.html", size: 2154 bytes]


Attachments:

message0.html
https://collab.sakaiproject.org/access/content/attachment/6ea92c76-4a3d-4404-0014-be85ff120b84/message0.html

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--
Hannah Reeves
The rSmart Group
hreeves@...
[phone]
ICQ 339619212

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[John Leasia]

Sounds ok to me - can you put it in a jira and we'll take care of it.
John

Harriet Truscott wrote:

>A user recently reported confusion about how to search Sakai. He was in
>Worksite Setup, and saw a  list of all sites, a text box, and a button
>marked 'Search'. He assumed that this search box searched the contents of
>all the sites listed below it. As we know, it actually searches for site
>titles only.
>
>Could we clarify this, do you think?
>
>My suggestions were:
>1) Add some (greyed-out) hint text in the search text box reading 'Search
>for a site by name' (or something similar)
>2) Re-name 'Search' button 'Find sites'
>
>There may be other places where we should clarify exactly what the tool
>search is searching.
>
>What do people think?
>
>Best wishes
>
>Harriet Truscott
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
>University of Cambridge
>16 Mill Lane
>Cambridge
>01223 765 040
>
>
>No virus found in this outgoing message.
>Checked by AVG.
>Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.23.0/1382 - Release Date: 16/04/2008
>17:34
>
>[see attachment: "message0.html", size: 2154 bytes]
>
>
>Attachments:
>
>message0.html
>https://collab.sakaiproject.org/access/content/attachment/6ea92c76-4a3d-4404-0014-be85ff120b84/message0.html
>
>----------------------
>This automatic notification message was sent by Sakai Collab (https://collab.sakaiproject.org/portal) from the DG: User Experience site.
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>
>  
>

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[Daphnedmdp6]

This kind of analysis can also help us identify differences in how  
search works across the application.   We can then identify the  
different kinds of searches for the users (i.e. this searches across  
the site, this searches titles only for a tool, etc.) through visual  
and functional distinctions to help users understand the various ways  
search can help them.

In the case of worksite setup I vote for being explicit.  How about  
changing the button to say "Search worksite titles".  Yes, it will be  
a big button but there will be no doubt in the user's mind what they  
are searching for.  Adding text below the search would be my 2nd vote  
since user's don't tend to read web spaces thoroughly until they are  
in trouble.  Without any indication of how the search works they'll  
likely assume google-like.

Thanks for starting this conversation Harriet!  Since there is  
potential for a lot of stuff in sites and for a user to have lots of  
sites that may be configured differently, I think search will become a  
main navigation tool for users once we've got it working consistently  
and as expected.  It's also always tricky to design and implement.

-Daphne

On Apr 21, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Hannah Reeves wrote:

> That sounds like a great idea to me, Harriet. I'm certain as you say  
> that there are other areas of the interface that could use  
> clarification as to what a user is searching for. We'll try to come  
> up with a list of these to share.
>
>
> Hannah
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Harriet Truscott" <harriet@...>
> To: "Sakai UI UI" <sakai-dg-ui@...>
> Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:55:40 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Suggestion for search-related improvement
>
>
> A user recently reported confusion about how to search Sakai. He was  
> in
> Worksite Setup, and saw a  list of all sites, a text box, and a button
> marked 'Search'. He assumed that this search box searched the  
> contents of
> all the sites listed below it. As we know, it actually searches for  
> site
> titles only.
>
> Could we clarify this, do you think?
>
> My suggestions were:
> 1) Add some (greyed-out) hint text in the search text box reading  
> 'Search
> for a site by name' (or something similar)
> 2) Re-name 'Search' button 'Find sites'
>
> There may be other places where we should clarify exactly what the  
> tool
> search is searching.
>
> What do people think?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Harriet Truscott
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
> - -
> Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
> University of Cambridge
> 16 Mill Lane
> Cambridge
> 01223 765 040
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.23.0/1382 - Release Date:  
> 16/04/2008
> 17:34
>
> [see attachment: "message0.html", size: 2154 bytes]
>
>
> Attachments:
>
> message0.html
> https://collab.sakaiproject.org/access/content/attachment/6ea92c76-4a3d-4404-0014-be85ff120b84/message0.html
>
> ----------------------
> This automatic notification message was sent by Sakai Collab (https://collab.sakaiproject.org/portal 
> ) from the DG: User Experience site.
> You can modify how you receive notifications at My Workspace >  
> Preferences.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Hannah Reeves
> The rSmart Group
> hreeves@...
> [phone]
> ICQ 339619212
>
> ----------------------
> This automatic notification message was sent by Sakai Collab (https://collab.sakaiproject.org/portal 
> ) from the DG: User Experience site.
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>

Daphne Ogle
Senior Interaction Designer
University of California, Berkeley
Educational Technology Services
daphne@...
cell [phone]



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[abloodworth]

Hi Hattie,

I've also thought for quite a while that what happened with this  
search wasn't clear (I remember being confused about it as a new  
Sakai user), and like both of your suggestions. I also think Yahoo!  
groups does this same sort of thing fairly well:  http://
groups.yahoo.com/. There is a heading which clearly says "Find a  
Yahoo! Group" and a text entry box with a "Search" button after it.  
Though it doesn't *exactly* say that it is searching group titles  
(which is a pretty important piece of info, for both Yahoo! and  
Sakai), I think it can be inferred from the header which also gives  
users a very task-focused description of what it does. This is  
similar to what you suggested in option #1, the main difference being  
that using the smaller instruction text (instead of the header Yahoo!  
uses) would save some space, which is important on this page.

The other thing to keep in mind is the "View" drop-down on the left.  
It would be nice for users to understand what they are searching  
within, but that information is so far from the search they may not  
associate it with the action they are performing. Since they aren't  
searching all Sakai sites, just the sites in the current selection,  
perhaps it would be helpful to put those two items closer together or  
associate them in some way (e.g. could the search box move to the  
left, next to or underneath the "View"?). The user can discover this  
after they get results, as they get a message like, "4 sites were  
found that matched your search for "integ" in the view of "All My  
Sites".," but it would be nice for that to be clear before they  
search, especially since we know most users aren't spending a lot of  
time in My Workspace and may forget this convention between uses.

Also, Shaw-Han and I did some thinking about this when we were  
working on the "My Active Sites" drop-down (http://
confluence.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/UI/Sakai+%27More%27+Tab
+Design) and one other improvement we could make is that in the  
"View" drop-down perhaps "project sites" could actually say "My  
Project Sites," and "course sites" could say "My Course Sites" to  
make what is being searched abundantly clear.

Cheers,
Allison

On Apr 21, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Hannah Reeves wrote:

> That sounds like a great idea to me, Harriet. I'm certain as you  
> say that there are other areas of the interface that could use  
> clarification as to what a user is searching for. We'll try to come  
> up with a list of these to share.
>
>
> Hannah
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Harriet Truscott" <harriet@...>
> To: "Sakai UI UI" <sakai-dg-ui@...>
> Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:55:40 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Suggestion for search-related improvement
>
>
> A user recently reported confusion about how to search Sakai. He  
> was in
> Worksite Setup, and saw a  list of all sites, a text box, and a button
> marked 'Search'. He assumed that this search box searched the  
> contents of
> all the sites listed below it. As we know, it actually searches for  
> site
> titles only.
>
> Could we clarify this, do you think?
>
> My suggestions were:
> 1) Add some (greyed-out) hint text in the search text box reading  
> 'Search
> for a site by name' (or something similar)
> 2) Re-name 'Search' button 'Find sites'
>
> There may be other places where we should clarify exactly what the  
> tool
> search is searching.
>
> What do people think?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Harriet Truscott
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
> - -
> Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
> University of Cambridge
> 16 Mill Lane
> Cambridge
> 01223 765 040
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.23.0/1382 - Release Date:  
> 16/04/2008
> 17:34
>
> [see attachment: "message0.html", size: 2154 bytes]
>
>
> Attachments:
>
> message0.html
> https://collab.sakaiproject.org/access/content/attachment/ 
> 6ea92c76-4a3d-4404-0014-be85ff120b84/message0.html
>
> ----------------------
> This automatic notification message was sent by Sakai Collab  
> (https://collab.sakaiproject.org/portal) from the DG: User  
> Experience site.
> You can modify how you receive notifications at My Workspace >  
> Preferences.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Hannah Reeves
> The rSmart Group
> hreeves@...
> [phone]
> ICQ 339619212
>
> ----------------------
> This automatic notification message was sent by Sakai Collab  
> (https://collab.sakaiproject.org/portal) from the DG: User  
> Experience site.
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> Preferences.
>

Allison Bloodworth
Senior User Interaction Designer
Educational Technology Services
University of California, Berkeley
[phone]
abloodworth@...




[see attachment: "message0.html", size: 14810 bytes]


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https://collab.sakaiproject.org/access/content/attachment/e745f3c2-259c-4942-8043-e26325131c46/message0.html

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