Search Patterns

Search Patterns

by Jeffery Callender, Peter Morville
Released January 2010
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596802271

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Book description

What people are saying about Search Patterns

"Search Patterns is a delight to read -- very thoughtful and thought provoking. It's the most comprehensive survey of designing effective search experiences I've seen." --Irene Au, Director of User Experience, Google

"I love this book! Thanks to Peter and Jeffery, I now know that search (yes, boring old yucky who cares search) is one of the coolest ways around of looking at the world." --Dan Roam, author, The Back of the Napkin (Portfolio Hardcover)

"Search Patterns is a playful guide to the practical concerns of search interface design. It contains a bonanza of screenshots and illustrations that capture the best of today's design practices and presents a fresh perspective on the broader role of search and discovery." --Marti Hearst, Professor, UC Berkeley and author, Search User Interfaces (Cambridge University Press)

"It's not often I come across a book that asks profound questions about a fundamental human activity, and then proceeds to answer those questions with practical observations and suggestions. Search Patterns is an expedition into the heart of the web and human cognition, and for me it was a delightful journey that delivered scores of insights." --Dave Gray, Founder and Chairman, XPLANE

"Search is swiftly transforming everything we know, yet people don't understand how mavens design search: by stacking breadcrumbs, scenting widgets, and keeping eyeballs on the engine. I urge you to put your eyeballs on this unique and important book." --Bruce Sterling, Writer, Futurist, and Co-Founder, The Electronic Frontier Foundation

"As one who searches a lot (and often ends up frustrated), Search Patterns is a revelation." --Nigel Holmes, Designer, Theorist, and Principal, Explanation Graphics

"Search Patterns is a fabulous must-have book! Inside, you'll learn the whys and wheres of practically every modern search design trick and technique." --Jared Spool, CEO and Founder, User Interface Engineering

Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe. In this provocative and inspiring book, you'll explore design patterns that apply across the categories of web, ecommerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and real-time search and discovery. Filled with colorful illustrations and examples, Search Patterns brings modern information retrieval to life, covering such diverse topics as relevance, faceted navigation, multi-touch, personalization, visualization, multi-sensory search, and augmented reality.

By drawing on their own experience-as well as best practices and evidence-based research-the authors not only offer a practical guide to help you build effective search applications, they also challenge you to imagine the future of discovery. You'll find Search Patterns intriguing and invaluable, whether you're a web practitioner, mobile designer, search entrepreneur, or just interested in the topic.

  • Discover a pattern language for search that embraces user psychology and behavior, information architecture, interaction design, and emerging technology
  • Boost enterprise efficiency and e-commerce sales
  • Enable mobile users to achieve goals, complete tasks, and find what they need
  • Drive design innovation for search interfaces and applications

Publisher resources

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
  2. 1. Pattern Recognition
    1. Understanding Search
      1. The Box
      2. The Goal
        1. Search
        2. Ask
        3. Filter
        4. Browse
        5. Find
        6. Learn
        7. Understand
        8. Share
        9. Act
      3. The Engine
    2. The Discovery of Color
    3. Elephant in the Room
      1. The Sadness of Search
        1. The Sadness of Search
        2. The Joy of Search
    4. A Mapmaker’s Manifesto
    5. Apophenia Redux
  3. 2. The Anatomy of Search
    1. Users
      1. User Experience Honeycomb: Searcher’s Edition
        1. User Experience Honeycomb: Searcher’s Edition
    2. Interface
    3. Engine
      1. Learning + Collaboration
        1. Learning + Collaboration
    4. Content
    5. Creators
    6. Context
      1. Portal
      2. Search
      3. Objects
      4. All Together Now
  4. 3. Behavior
    1. Patterns of Behavior
      1. Quit
        1. Quit
        2. Narrow
        3. Expand
        4. Pearl Growing
        5. Pogosticking
        6. Thrashing
    2. Elements of Interaction
    3. Principles of Design
      1. Incremental Construction
      2. Progressive Disclosure
      3. Immediate Response
      4. Alternate Views
      5. Predictability
      6. Recognition Over Recall
      7. Minimal Disruption
      8. Direct Manipulation
      9. Context of Use
  5. 4. Design Patterns
    1. Autocomplete
      1. Autocomplete
        1. Autocomplete
    2. Best First
      1. Best First
        1. Best First
    3. Federated Search
      1. Federated Search
        1. Federated Search
    4. Faceted Navigation
      1. Faceted Navigation
        1. Faceted Navigation
    5. Advanced Search
      1. Advanced Search
        1. Advanced Search
    6. Personalization
      1. Personalization
        1. Personalization
    7. Pagination
      1. Pagination
        1. Pagination
    8. Structured Results
      1. Structured Results
        1. Structured Results
    9. Actionable Results
      1. Actionable Results
        1. Actionable Results
    10. Unified Discovery
      1. Unified Discovery
        1. Unified Discovery
    11. The End of the Beginning
  6. 5. Engines of Discovery
    1. Category
    2. Topic
    3. Format
    4. Audience
    5. Platform
    6. Mode
  7. 6. Tangible Futures
    1. Methods and Deliverables
    2. Search Scenarios
      1. Sensorium
        1. Debrief
      2. Semantic Singularity
        1. Debrief
      3. Searchvalence
        1. Debrief
      4. Flock
        1. Debrief
    3. Experience Discovery
  8. A. Recommended Reading
  9. Index
  10. About the Authors
  11. Colophon
  12. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Search Patterns
  • Author(s): Jeffery Callender, Peter Morville
  • Release date: January 2010
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596802271