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Traditional drills down techniques are not always applicable to today’s complex data needs. Faceted search, also referred to as Guided Navigation, is designed to help a user get to the information they are looking for as quickly as possible. This is accomplished by allowing each piece of information to have attributes associated with it. An item (like “Apple”) can have a facet (like “color”) with multiple attributes (like “Green”, “Red”) associated with it. If the Apple has another facet (like “type”) it is then considered to be multi-faceted.

 

The benefits of allowing users to navigate, via facet selection, to get to their result is powerful. Every time the user selects a facet, the amount of data that matches the search criteria decreases. The more facts they select, the bigger the decrease. The process is iterative.

 

From an interface perspective, the goal is to create a user experience that allows them quickly to get to the information they desire. The drive is to transform data into information and that information into a value added solution to potentially forward your business. It is in these transforms where things can get complicated.

 

Web browsers themselves are not well geared towards implementing iterative processes. No user wants to wait for web pages to constantly post back so they can get results. Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX have greatly alleviated the pressure caused by this problem by pushing back only targeted content. So the question at hand is: What are the best practices for designing navigation based systems that use faceted search?

 

• Intelligent Facet Display – Just because there are 15 facets associated with an item, doesn’t mean they are all viable as display options for the user. More selections are not always better. Take the time to make sure you understand the user’s needs to see what attributes they truly need in order to make intelligent decisions. The following considerations should always take place when you are designing your faceted navigation:
  • Weigh your facets based on importance. You be amazed at how many people do not do this right. Show the users the most important facets first. This also directly ties to the next point
  • If you have a lot of Facets, limit the display to your top 5 and then have the user be able to display more if they need to. In most cases, the top 5 will give them all the power they need. There is no reason to clutter your interface.
  • Labeling. Facet labels should be clear and well defined. For example: Having one facet called “Calendar” and another called “Events” is confusing to the user. Take the time to make sure your Labels are well defined and mutually exclusive. This goes a long way towards intelligent taxonomy design as well.
• Correct Facet Selection Widgets – There are a lot of ways you can define the method a user uses to select their facet attributes. You can give allow them to select multiple attributes for a single facet or only one attribute for a facet at a time. If they need to select a date, use a calendar control and not a textbox. Does your solution call for cascading dropdowns linking facets together? Again, understanding the user’s needs is critical in selecting the correct methodology for them to navigate to the correct answer.
• Display Interaction – Every time the user makes a single facet selection, do you need to show them the results of that selection or do you allow them to select multiple facets at a time and then display the results? This greatly affects the user’s experience/enjoyment of using the site and needs to be thought out carefully.
• Resetting - Allow for a quick clearing of all search criteria so the user can easily start their search again.

 

Faceted navigation is a very powerful tool allowing for an enriched user experience when visiting your website – if it is done correctly. You need to understand your data and your users to really pull it off. Using the techniques I have outlined here in conjunction with searching the web for examples of what has been done before will allow you to truly create an exceptional search experience.