Search and Filters
User Experience Design
Until mid 2023, Info-Tech was using lexical search, due to which, users would show huge dissatisfaction with the search results. When this was changed to a vector based semantic search, the search results improved vastly; although, the filters within the search results still behaved less than ideally. This project was undertaken to improve this experience.
Time Frame
Feb - May 2023
Project Status
This project displays our work that is currently live on the Info-Tech website. This improvement to the search and filters functionality on the Info-Tech website was made as part of a large effort to improve the overall User Experience.
Team
Info-Tech UX and Development Teams
The Context/Background
Until mid 2023, Info-Tech was using lexical search, due to which, users would show huge dissatisfaction with the search results. When this was changed to a vector based semantic search, the search results improved vastly; although, the filters within the search results still behaved less than ideally. This project was undertaken to improve this experience.
Before Fixes
After the Fixes were applied
After the Fixes were applied
Three main issues were identified and addressed as part of this project:
Issue 1: Items within the search filter box look like checkboxes but function like a radio button.
Solution for Issue 1: Multi-select functionality was added.
Users are also able to individually select either Info-tech or SoftwareReviews entirely, selecting all sub-categories within it.
Issue 2: Button in the search filters box says “Show all results [number]” but behaves like “clear filters”.
Solution for Issue 2: Changed button “Show all results” to “Clear filters” for better understanding.
Issue 3: Search Includes SoftwareReviews results which may cause for IT results to be ranked lower. Currently, while there is a SofwareReviews filter that sits within the same hierarchy of the rest of the results, it does not eliminate this problem (because when nothing is selected, it means nothing is filtered and the search shows all results. Also, there is no messaging to inform the user of included SoftwareReviews results.
Solution for Issue 3: Included messaging regarding Info-Tech and SoftwareReviews results being included in search. (Messaging is displayed within the search filter box above the results.)