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:mag: Search Patterns Discussion

Kimie_OuYang
20 Mar '18

This demo video includes following topics:
1.Advanced Searching
2.Boolean Searching
3.Sources/Filters Selection
4.Complex Data Display(Faceted Searching is included)

Would love to hear feedback from you!

PaulaSullenger
20 Mar '18

I love that we’ll have an autocorrect feature - long overdue in the library world.

One thing I wasn’t sure of - are the patterns something that an individual can set and save. For instance, someone in serials might always use an ISSN search.

Kimie_OuYang
23 Mar '18

Hi @PaulaSullenger,

Thank you for this feedback! We did think about this type of use cases when discussing the advanced search patterns. Based on what we already developed so far, users can either bookmark the search settings, or just select the option from search history. Would be great if you can share more use cases of advanced search you use daily :slight_smile:

lmccoll_lyu
29 Mar '18

I’m trying to understand the demonstration of different patterns. I’m afraid this is a basic (read: possibly dumb) question. Are we looking at these with the thought that you are trying to select one pattern of each category for the final design, or is your current intention to incorporate all of these patterns into the final design?

LauraW
2 Apr '18

Here are some thoughts:

In theory I’d probably have different preferences for Codex and Inventory, but in practice it would be confusing and frustrating for them to be different.

  1. Advanced Searching – I really like having the option of typing search modifier labels in Inventory. This reminds me of OCLC Connexion’s interface, where I am one of those old-school users who still types command line searches; I know I’m not typical, but this way of searching is actually faster if you often use the same indexes and know their labels. I almost always prefer typing to mousing/selecting labels. I slightly prefer pattern2 over pattern1 (it looks a little cleaner). That said, I can see pattern3 being really nice for the Codex where we might need to perform variations/iterations of similar searches.

  2. I prefer not to have the pop up as I envision sometimes wanting to redo a search based on results retrieved from another search – so I’d like to be able to view (and maybe copy/paste from) my previous results while entering another set of search terms. Pattern3 seems, as you say, the most flexible and I like that.

  3. For the sources/filters, pattern3 is the cleanest and both most visually appealing and most intuitive to me.

  4. I really like what you’ve done with displaying all selected filters just below the search box. I’m not sure how useful refining by subject will be in the contexts I’m imagining using Codex/Inventory – this seems like more of a public search display feature? But I’d like to know what others think. What might be use cases for this?

Kimie_OuYang
3 Apr '18

Hello @lmccoll_lyu,

This is just the first UX iteration of advanced search patterns,
there will not only be one design pattern for each category since there are different types of search behaviors across FOLIO platform.
We will iterate those patterns base on real use cases,
so the final design might look totally different from the 1st UX iteration.
Would be really helpful if you can share any thought on any of those patterns in the demo video!
Thank you so much for asking this question!

kmarti
4 Apr '18

I’d like to second what Laura W said about providing a command line search for power users. When I think about use cases here in the library, there will likely be people who need to do advanced searches with some frequency, and could save time once they have the labels selected to be simply be able to type them in the appropriate syntax. This would allow searches to be entered quickly, and then executed with return, as opposed to needing a mouse click. Then there are other individuals who are occasionally needing advanced search, and would need the prompts provided by the boxes to enter items in the correct fields.

I personally liked the pop-ups in Pattern 1, as they seemed the most intuitive, but perhaps, as Laura notes, they don’t provide the flexibility. I think it will be important to be able to refine previous searches as well.

Facets: I think the faceting is important, as there are a number of individuals who will use the facets to refine a simple search, as opposed to applying them right away. I liked the idea of showing facet options but graying them out if they can’t be used for a particular data set. I don’t have a strong preference between pattern 1 and pattern 2. I slightly prefer pattern 1 because it doesn’t change the order of the facets, but I could see pattern 2 being useful in cases of long lists. I definitely like having the facets grouped at the top to be seen and xed out as needed. One thing to consider is the ability to include/exclude facets. Right now, it looks like you can only select a facet, but it might be nice to use facets as an exclusionary device as well (e.g., I want to see all formats from in data set 1, excluding serials). We have this option in our public catalog: https://catalog.lib.uchicago.edu/vufind/Search/Results?filter[]=format%3A"Book"&filter[]=-format%3A"E-Resource"&lookfor=trees&type=AllFields

LauraW
4 Apr '18

Yes! Thank you for mentioning “exclude” for filters/facets. This is a very useful option.