Feedback on NI Search Results

Question

Greetings! We are trying to make it easier for customers to find solutions
on our web site, and I would like your feedback. We are considering changing
the titles on documents so that the area of the site is displayed prominently
in the title. Thus, when you run a search on our main site, the type of
material would be prominently displayed in the title. For example, if you
ran a search on the main area of the site, you would return results like
this:
KnowledgeBase - LabVIEW 5.0 CIN Manual has incorrect instructions
Tutorial - Using a CIN in LabVIEW
Example - Using a CIN to Create an array
Manual - LabVIEW Developer's Manual
The second format we are considering is title of document followed by type
of document, ie.
Using
a CIN in LabVIEW - Tutorial
Using a CIN to Create an Array - Example
LabVIEW Developer's Manual - Manual
Do you think it is helpful to have the type of material listed first in the
title or is it distracting? When you run a search, are you generally looking
for something specific like an example, tutorial, or manual, or are you looking
for anything that will answer your question? If you are looking for something
specific, do you run a search on the main site, or do you go to that area
of the site?
I really appreciate your help,
Sarah

Answer 1

Sarah Patterson wrote:
> Greetings! We are trying to make it easier for customers to find solutions
> on our web site, and I would like your feedback. We are considering changing
> the titles on documents so that the area of the site is displayed prominently
> in the title. Thus, when you run a search on our main site, the type of
> material would be prominently displayed in the title. For example, if you
> ran a search on the main area of the site, you would return results like
> this:
> KnowledgeBase - LabVIEW 5.0 CIN Manual has incorrect instructions
> Tutorial - Using a CIN in LabVIEW
> Example - Using a CIN to Create an array
> Manual - LabVIEW Developer's Manual
>
> The second format we are considering is title of document followed by type
> of document, ie.
> Using a CIN in LabVIEW - Tutorial
> Using a CIN to Create an Array - Example
> LabVIEW Developer's Manual - Manual
>
>
> Do you think it is helpful to have the type of material listed first in the
> title or is it distracting? When you run a search, are you generally looking
> for something specific like an example, tutorial, or manual, or are you looking
> for anything that will answer your question? If you are looking for something
> specific, do you run a search on the main site, or do you go to that area
> of the site?
>
> I really appreciate your help,
> Sarah
Second format seems better to all. For me second is better as well.
If I'm searching for exact phrase which I know should exist in
databases, -searching through main search page. If not, digging deeper
in a particular product/knowledge area.
I'm very familiar with NI many years, so having bookmarks and using them
more often. Search page should not contain many selectors with huge
number of items to select. Never using them. I see that it's more
convenient to the DB developer, but need fastest access to particulat
product area very fast. So keeping one input text box is more clear and
convenient for the beginning. Advanced search seldom using. Depends on
question, though, what to use - search or expanding tree-like navigation
to product page.
Sergey Krasnishov
Automated Control Systems
National Instruments Alliance Member
Moscow, Russia
[email protected]
http://acs.levsha.ru