Many modern websites feature sophisticated, well-designed information structures that use categories to help users navigate the site and focus on the most relevant content.

Categories for Navigating and Narrowing

Categories can be used to sort search results and reordering results based on the values of one or more attributes and navigate content inside Web sites and grouping search results.

Categories for Sorting and Filtering Search Results

The hierarchy or tree structure is a common information organizing structure. The table-of-contents view, which is used in books and other information systems, is a basic version of the hierarchy. A table-of-contents format has been proposed by a number of research systems to aid in the structuring of search results.

Organizing Search Results via Table-of-Contents Views

As the number of websites grew faster and search engines became more accurate, the value of general directories declined dramatically. This reduction is likely due to the directory Web sites' poor navigability and the improvement in web search ranking.

The Decline of Hierarchical Navigation of Web Content

Many Web sites' navigation structures have a flaw in that they do not integrate their browsing and searching functions.

Categories for Grouping Search Results

Using categories to sort, filter, and group search results, table-of-contents views, faceted navigation and search, and clustering are all covered in Integrating Navigation with Search, which concludes with the benefits of categories vs. clusters in search and browsing interfaces.

Indiana University

A search interface is a type of graphical user interface that helps a user retrieve information.

Search Interfaces

Hearst, M. A. (2009). Search user interfaces. Cambridge University Press. [https://searchuserinterfaces.com/book/]

Search User Interfaces

- Offer informative feedback
- Support user control
- Reduce short-term memory load
- Provide shortcuts for skilled users
- Reduce errors; offer simple error handling
- Strive for consistency
- Permit easy reversal of actions
- Design for closure

Design Guidelines for User Interfaces

Search interfaces are evaluated based on usability:
- Effectiveness
- Efficiency
- Satisfaction

Evaluation of Search Interfaces

To design successful interfaces, it is necessary to understand the information-seeking process and strategies that people engage in when they are searching for information. Here are a few of the major theoretical models of information seeking:
- The Standard Model of Information Seeking
- The Cognitive Model of Information Seeking
- The Dynamic (Berry-Picking) Model
- Information seeking in stages
- Information seeking as a strategic process
- Sensemaking

Models of the Information Seeking Process

Personalization in search means that search results should take into account the reality that people's demands, goals, and tastes differ.

Personalization in Search

Integrating Navigation with Search

It is important to understand user's search needs and queries to support their complex information-seeking tasks.

Supporting the Search Process

Presentation of search results is an important part of search interfaces. Empirical research has provided support for several common ways of presenting search results.

Presentation of Search Results

Since the human perceptual system is highly attuned to image, incorporating visual information into the display using techniques from the field of information visualization would be helpful to the search process, which makes the communication more rapidly and effectively.

Information Visualization for Search Interface

Users often go through a cycle of query reformulation, which means they start with an initial query, make changes to the query if they do not find the desired information, and repeat this cycle until users are satisfied. 

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