This book focuses on the human users of search engines and the tool they use to interact with them: the search user interface. The truly worldwide reach of the Web has brought with it a new realization among computer scientists and laypeople of the enormous importance of usability and user interface design. In the last ten years, much has become understood about what works in search interfaces from a usability perspective, and what does not. Researchers and practitioners have developed a wide range of innovative interface ideas, but only the most broadly acceptable make their way into major web search engines. This book summarizes these developments, presenting the state of the art of search interface design, both in academic research and in deployment in commercial systems. Many books describe the algorithms behind search engines and information retrieval systems, but the unique focus of this book is specifically on the user interface. It will be welcomed by industry professionals who design systems that use search interfaces as well as graduate students and academic researchers who investigate information systems.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Many people think designing a search user interface is as simple as copying what someone else does. There are a lot of complex issues below the surface and this is the first book to explain all of the research in a way that a practitioner like me can apply it. If you want to design innovative search user interfaces, you need this book close at hand at all times."
Keith Instone, Information Architecture Lead, IBM.com User Experience Design
"A comprehensive guide, not to how search works but how we humans work with search to satisfy our information needs. A must-read for anyone concerned with usability and creating the optimal user experience for searchers."
Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land
"With a loud clear trumpet blast Marti Hearst announces a new scientific research domain, with emerging theories, a clear research agenda, and a compelling opportunity to influence vital technologies. Her book provides powerful insights for experts and is a vital guide for those coming into the field. It is difficult to convey my satisfaction and enthusiasm for Marti Hearst's remarkable analysis of the emerging scientific research domain of Search User Interfaces. Hearst's brilliant organization, lucid writing, and admirably comprehensive review (600+ references) are gifts to scholars, implementers, and students who want to contribute to the flourishing activity in user interfaces for information search and retrieval. Her devotion to evidence-based analysis from user and usage studies lays a compelling scientific foundation for future contributions."
Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland
"Professor Hearst has given us the definitive work on search user interfaces; grounded in the theory and practice of information retrieval and human-computer interaction and brimming with examples and clear explanations, this landmark book will serve the needs of students, practitioners, and scholars for years ahead."
Gary Marchionini, Boshamer Professor, University of North Carolina, School of Information and Library Science
"Marti Hearst has written an impressively comprehensive and authoritative account of search interfaces, bringing together the state of the art in search sites with the large and rapidly growing body of scientific research that explains what works and why. This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to get below the surface of search --- to analyze and create search interfaces and to understand the full range of issues, problems, and new potentials for design."
Terry Winograd, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University
"Marti Hearst's Search User Interfaces benefits from the focus and coordination that comes more naturally in a single-authored book. [An] acknowledged expert in the field, Hearst brings a clear focus to an impressive range of topics."
Miles Efron, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Keith Instone, Information Architecture Lead, IBM.com User Experience Design
"A comprehensive guide, not to how search works but how we humans work with search to satisfy our information needs. A must-read for anyone concerned with usability and creating the optimal user experience for searchers."
Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land
"With a loud clear trumpet blast Marti Hearst announces a new scientific research domain, with emerging theories, a clear research agenda, and a compelling opportunity to influence vital technologies. Her book provides powerful insights for experts and is a vital guide for those coming into the field. It is difficult to convey my satisfaction and enthusiasm for Marti Hearst's remarkable analysis of the emerging scientific research domain of Search User Interfaces. Hearst's brilliant organization, lucid writing, and admirably comprehensive review (600+ references) are gifts to scholars, implementers, and students who want to contribute to the flourishing activity in user interfaces for information search and retrieval. Her devotion to evidence-based analysis from user and usage studies lays a compelling scientific foundation for future contributions."
Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland
"Professor Hearst has given us the definitive work on search user interfaces; grounded in the theory and practice of information retrieval and human-computer interaction and brimming with examples and clear explanations, this landmark book will serve the needs of students, practitioners, and scholars for years ahead."
Gary Marchionini, Boshamer Professor, University of North Carolina, School of Information and Library Science
"Marti Hearst has written an impressively comprehensive and authoritative account of search interfaces, bringing together the state of the art in search sites with the large and rapidly growing body of scientific research that explains what works and why. This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to get below the surface of search --- to analyze and create search interfaces and to understand the full range of issues, problems, and new potentials for design."
Terry Winograd, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University
"Marti Hearst's Search User Interfaces benefits from the focus and coordination that comes more naturally in a single-authored book. [An] acknowledged expert in the field, Hearst brings a clear focus to an impressive range of topics."
Miles Efron, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Book Description
There are a wide range of interface ideas, but few make their way into major web search engines. This book summarizes the state of the art of search interface design, both in academic research and in commercial systems. Industry professionals designing search engine systems as well as graduate students and academic researchers will welcome this unique book.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By G. Linden
Format:Hardcover
This book is a survey of recent work in search, but with an unusual focus on the importance of interface design on searcher's perceptions of the quality and usefulness of search results.
It is an excellent supplement to core search texts such as Introduction to Information Retrieval (Manning et al., 2008) which focus on the backend technology behind search. Search User Interfaces focuses more on the how we search, what we expect to see when we search, different interfaces that have been tried in the past, and which of those people found useful.
More specifically, the author starts by looking at why Google and other search engines have such a spartan design, explaining that searchers find it most helpful when distractions are minimized and it is quick and easy to iterate on searches. She goes on to lay a foundation by looking at the many models for how people search, including an exploration of the information foraging model where searchers partially satisfy some goals while rapidly developing new goals as they are exposed to new information. She offers hints on techniques that have worked well (e.g. immediately showing search results, keywords-in-context in the snippets, diversity of results on ambiguous queries, biasing results based on query term order and proximity, the importance of seemingly minor design tweaks, just to name a few). She dismisses more complicated interfaces such as boolean queries, thumbnails of result pages, clustering, pseudo-relevance feedback, explicit personalization, and visualizations of query refinements and search results, saying that they showed poor results in the past. She holds out hope for faceted search, universal search, and implicit personalization.
I enjoyed the way this book usefully points at techniques which have shown promise while dismissing others as consistently confusing to users. It is a guide to what works and what does not in search, warning of paths that likely lead into the weeds and pointing to better opportunities.
It is an excellent supplement to core search texts such as Introduction to Information Retrieval (Manning et al., 2008) which focus on the backend technology behind search. Search User Interfaces focuses more on the how we search, what we expect to see when we search, different interfaces that have been tried in the past, and which of those people found useful.
More specifically, the author starts by looking at why Google and other search engines have such a spartan design, explaining that searchers find it most helpful when distractions are minimized and it is quick and easy to iterate on searches. She goes on to lay a foundation by looking at the many models for how people search, including an exploration of the information foraging model where searchers partially satisfy some goals while rapidly developing new goals as they are exposed to new information. She offers hints on techniques that have worked well (e.g. immediately showing search results, keywords-in-context in the snippets, diversity of results on ambiguous queries, biasing results based on query term order and proximity, the importance of seemingly minor design tweaks, just to name a few). She dismisses more complicated interfaces such as boolean queries, thumbnails of result pages, clustering, pseudo-relevance feedback, explicit personalization, and visualizations of query refinements and search results, saying that they showed poor results in the past. She holds out hope for faceted search, universal search, and implicit personalization.
I enjoyed the way this book usefully points at techniques which have shown promise while dismissing others as consistently confusing to users. It is a guide to what works and what does not in search, warning of paths that likely lead into the weeds and pointing to better opportunities.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A. Rappoport
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Professor Marti Hearst has written the comprehensive review of all current research on search engine user interfaces. But this book is more than just a survey of the literature: it explains all aspects of successful search use interface design (and usability and user experience). Many of us have had ideas that seem nice but simply do not work in practice. Reading this book will save everyone involved with search engine design a huge amount of time and trouble.
The writing in this book is extremely clear and direct: it's an ideal textbook for anyone interested in search engines in general as well as interface issues. I wish it had been around when I was first (painfully) learning many of these lessons. Highly recommended.
The writing in this book is extremely clear and direct: it's an ideal textbook for anyone interested in search engines in general as well as interface issues. I wish it had been around when I was first (painfully) learning many of these lessons. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By E. Welker
Format:Hardcover
There are a number of really good pointers littered through the text, so this book should be good for anyone looking for tips on implementation. Of course, it is a book summarizing research, so don't expect a step-by-step guide, though it is extremely organized and comes as close as it can for this sort of book.
The references are all very strong, and even when they are not, I found a few times where she does a better job summarizing the results than the actual papers do.
There is also some material that isn't quite suited for implementation, for example certain visualization techniques. Those sections aren't for everyone, so I skipped them... but still feel like the book was well worth it.
My overall summary? If you are interested or working in the subject area, don't hesitate, purchase this book.
The references are all very strong, and even when they are not, I found a few times where she does a better job summarizing the results than the actual papers do.
There is also some material that isn't quite suited for implementation, for example certain visualization techniques. Those sections aren't for everyone, so I skipped them... but still feel like the book was well worth it.
My overall summary? If you are interested or working in the subject area, don't hesitate, purchase this book.
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