On searching intranets
I simply fail to understand why intranets don’t make search the focal point for everything they host. Isn’t that how internet primarily works? I can’t say I haven’t tried. In fact, I like it so good that I miss it in every local portal I probe.
Open up your corporate portal and try that search bar for something, anything. And tell me, if all you get is a puke of raw incomprehensible text1 listing.
The only plausible conclusion I can draw is that people involved in design are either incapable of understanding that their portals are most usable when combined with an effective2 search or, are incapable of implementing such a thing. Or may be both.
How should it be? — For starters, how about a readable title followed by a decent two-line summary, list of categories associated (for further narrowing down on similar / related items), date created or updated, targeted for specific groups, department, etc if any.
- If you don’t, then I’d say you’re truly blessed. [←]
- I’d say effective, because there are tons of crappy options (as in software, services) that only give you a search bar and no results; or give you a myriad of options, as filters, that you don’t want or don’t know how to choose from, for the fear of not finding anything. [←]