Speed Walk-through: Home Page Search Options and Search Collections (2004)

Overview

Quick, informal evaluation of five sites, regarding search box vs. search link on home page, and searching of website vs. catalog.

Team and Partners

Kelsey Libner
Bonnie Tijerina
Yinon Bentor
Katherine Dexter Willis
Steve McCann
Tripp Reade

Results

Of those websites evaluated, Yale and Cornell emerged as the best designs in each set. One reason for this conclusion was that both sites included a catalog search box placed prominently near the top of the web page. For each site search, two considerations were viewed as most important. Evaluators considered the quality of the site search implementation. They also considered placement of the search box if it was located on the homepage, and whether it was clearly differentiated from the catalog search.

Reports and Presentations

Report (.pdf file)

Last updated: October 2009