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Subject:Designing a Very Specific Web Interface From:Ruth Lundquist <rlundquist -at- prosarcorp -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 5 Dec 2000 16:27:02 -0600
(I've searched google for "web interface design" as well as "search engine
design" and various mutations thereof. I've also spent some time reading
many links on www.webpagesthatsuck.com. While finding a lot of good info, I
don't see anything that specifically applies to my situation.)
That said, do any of you gurus have thoughts on the following:
My company builds databases of documents for clients (we don't author the
documents--they come from a variety of sources), which the clients access
via a secure web site hosted by us. We call these databases "libraries" and
customers currently search for documents in their libraries using a
remarkably ugly & unintuitive interface that we've designed.
Based on customer feedback & our need to market a professional looking
product, we are redesigning the search interface. My gut-feeling is that
the interface should look, feel, and function more like a search engine
you'd find on the web (google, alta vista, dogpile, et al), because many
people are familiar with using that type of search interface.
It differs from a search engine, however, in that it is not a full text
search. Customers can search using specific criteria only. For example,
manufacturer, trade name, CAS #, ingredient, or user-defined data which is
entered about the document. They can not search the content of the actual
document. This search functionality is core to our business & is not
something that will be changed (so please don't suggest that--we want it
this way & more importantly so do our customers).
My question is this:
Do any of you have suggestions for designing search engine-like web pages?
Other than simply looking at how other search engines are designed? Or
would it make more sense to design a more application-like interface with
the criteria listed in drop-down boxes and with fields for entering
specific information? (FYI, we will build the interface, not purchase a
search engine to run against our database.)
Please reply to the list. Thanks in advance.
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