Sarah,

I'd say that the best usability answers come from your users. They are best
placed to tell you what they understand and what they will misunderstand.

Chad
On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Joe Hourcle
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Jul 2010, Sarah Weeks wrote:
>
>  Long time lurker, first time poster.
>> I have a little usability question I was hoping someone could give me
>> advice
>> on.
>> I'm updating the databases page on our website and we'd like to add a
>> search
>> box that would search certain fields we have set up for our databases
>> (title, vendor, etc...) so that even if someone doesn't remember the first
>> word in the title, they can quickly find the database they're looking
>> through without having to scroll through the whole A-Z list.
>> My question is: if we add a search box to our main database page, how can
>> we
>> make it clear that it's for searching FOR a database and not IN a
>> database?
>> Some of the choices we've considered are:
>> Seach for a database:
>> Search this list:
>> Don't remember the name of the database? Search here:
>>
>> I'm not feeling convinced by any of them. I'm afraid when people see a
>> search box they're not going to bother reading the text but will just
>> assume
>> it's a federated search tool.
>>
>> Any advice?
>>
>
> If the issue is trying to keep the wording short so you don't clutter up
> the main page, consider putting a larger, more detailed message on the
> results page, such as :
>
>        Didn't find what you were looking for?
>        This searches the names of the databases, but doesn't search
>        within them.  ...
>
> (yes, I know, it wastes their time, and CPU cycles on your machine, but
> it's an alternative if the issue's trying to make the website look pretty)
>
> -Joe
>



-- 
Chad Nelson
Library Systems Manager & Assistant Web Manager
London Metropolitan University
t: 020 7133 2106
e: [log in to unmask]