This section discusses
the latter, from the basic, internal search box to designing search results.
Search as a navigation complement
Some might argue that many corporate sites are simply too small to consider a search
function. With a finite number of pages and a thin architecture, users should be able to
find their way around smaller websites without trouble. Unfortunately, the issue is rarely
so black and white.
To start, designers and the company staff are always artificially comfortable with their own
site??™s design. For them, the website is obvious; they know it like the back of their hand, and
intentionally or not, expect outsiders to find it equally effortless to use. To them, a search
feature is redundant.
In addition, the online habits of people are changing. The world is accustomed to the
instant gratification that major search engines provide??”they type in a few keywords, and
in seconds, they are served the exact slice of content they need, plucked magically from a
menu of hundreds of millions of possibilities. That ease of use is addictive.5 When confronted
with an unfamiliar website, it??™s exponentially faster for people to use the search
feature than try to decipher a brand new architecture.
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