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It seems to me that refinement has been largely accepted as a tool to enable users to review their search criteria and then alter it by adding and removing criteria based on the search criteria we currently have.
Thus far many media sites have simply converted their large demanding search forms on the home page into a refinement toll on the search results page.
However, the question remains: Is this the best way to provide users with functionality on the search results page that helps users find what they are looking for?
How internet dating got me thinking….
When looking for a date users are unlikely to alter their most important criteria on the search results page.For example, users are unlikely to think that another member who is well out of their age range, location range and lifestyle habits would be a suitable date on the search results page.
This is different to users looking for a home, car or job because their preferred criteria could change during a search. For example, you’ve just started looking for a car. Your friend’s Mazda seems to run ok, you’ll start looking there… you enter in your search for a Mazda, then select body type, transmission and price range only to find that there aren’t very many Mazda that you can afford, no problem - you can broaden your search by selecting all makes and models and in doing so you find a nice looking Honda. This is a reasonable scenario - unlike an internet dater changing their gender, sexual preference or smoking preference from a results page. It just doesn’t make sense.
For users who would look for dates in 2 locations for example or bisexual people looking for both gender’s it is reasonable design for the user to conduct two separate and distinct searches based on each preference. Particularly in the example to distinct searches based on gender - where by all the criteria may well be different.
Given this, how useful would populating a refine panel with search criteria be? Could this be an opportunity to look outside of the box and do something other than work out the right way to display the tabulated data within our site?
So it got me thinking… and I took it back to basics.
What tasks can users perform within a search refine panel?
Below is a list of possibilities of the sort of functionality that a refine panel can provide to users. Usually a site would use a combination of these:
a) View feedback on original search
b) Select additional criteria
c) Browse content
d) Exclude content
e) Include more content
f) Preference content
Simple and straight forward. But this list is really useful in determining what is most useful for your refine panel.
Should it be for presenting feedback?
Would it be for tweaking results?
Do you want to offer new criteria
Would it be more useful for users to broaden their results or to narrow them?
Should some content be excluded?
Or do we want to offer users the ability to browse?
Naturally - it could be several of these - depending on the task at hand. Such a list however, has provided me with a handy tool for considering the sort of functionality a refine panel could offer based on the information I’m able to crawl with in the system.
