Comments on: Search-centric vs the signpost

By: PHILIP

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By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:18:49 +0000

Thanks for your comments John and Dave.
I didn’t explicitly say it in my original post but I agree completely that the quality of the content and the tagging of it is a top priority for any site. I’ve worked in online content for around a decade myself and in my experience a site which lacks good quality content is always doomed to fail.
I’m wholeheartedly behind the idea of fixing the data / content and also freeing it. Most local authorities could do with not only reviewing the ways they offer to navigate to content on their own websites but freeing that data for delivery elsewhere via RSS etc. But that’s a story for another time…
It’s interesting to know there was a programme of user / usability testing at Lancashire. I’d still be interested to find out more. I’d be interested too in Lancashire and Westmisnster sharing their views / feedback on the new designs in a few months time.

By: dave stafford

dave stafford — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:58:30 +0000

Hello,

I am a data analyst who has specialised in content and content management for over 13 years.

It’s my opinion now, after a lot of thought, that it does not matter how you search, what combination you use, if it’s strictly a hierarchy, topical or just a search box.

It’s ALL down to the quality of the content, and how well it’s tagged. And my experience tells me: not very well.

I will give this some thought and then post again. Initially though, I don’t think it MATTERS how you configure your site – give them a choice maybe, like Lancashire did – search or hierarchy view – but what you MUST do, is tag your content so well that you get the returns you would expect to get.

Fix the data, not the website.

My .02

Dave

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Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:58:22 +0000

[...] Sarah Lay » Blog Archive » Search-centric vs the signpost http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/08/searchorsign – view page – cached #Sarah Lay RSS Feed Sarah Lay » Search-centric vs the signpost Comments Feed Sarah Lay Local government and social media – response to Ingrid Koeler at IDeA Getting the conversation started — From the page [...]

By: John Fox

John Fox — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:01:33 +0000

I’m with you Sarah (not convinced this is the way forward).

There was a programme of user testing in place prior to the new-look Lancashire site going live. To what extent that programme reached I do not know, but certainly some degree of examination was carried out that I do know.

For myself I think Lancashire’s implementation works better than Westminster’s, though I agree the search box needs to be more dominant. Two strengths for me are the prominent switch to Classic view (which is not obvious on Westminster’s site) and the strong single-image design of the site’s homepage to support council campaigns. Provided they can maintain the freshness of the design by further campaign images, I think it’s a potential winner.

But as ever, its all very well having a Google style homepage. If you don’t get the fundamentals behind it right then its all rather academic. Reliance on the search means that users must be able to find what they’re looking for first time (or second at a push).

When I tried out Lancashire’s site I gave up on the new model pretty quickly, switching to Classic view for an altogether better user experience.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:48:43 +0000

It’s an interesting point Philippe – thanks for your comments, I’ll check out your post.
I think there are a few considerations with using search as the main navigation but it’s interesting to see council’s moving away from a solution given as standard to us five years ago (all using same categorisation scheme) to new, innovative navigation.

By: Philippe Parker

Philippe Parker — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:38:18 +0000

Interesting post Sarah. I think the biggest issue with using search in this way is the heavy dependency it places on content being well-named and well-tagged. On large websites with devolved publishing teams, this is rarely the case.
Searches also tend to return more results than are relevant, whereas navigation is more focussed. Search for swimming pool on the Westminster site and you’ll find over 60 results; I’m sure there aren’t that many pools managed by the authority.
Search can be a good way to navigate a site — I’ve written about it before http://contentedmanagement.net/blog/when-search-is-a-good-way-to-navigate/ — but I’m unconvinced that in this case it makes for more relevant information for the public.