There’s plenty of talk about where navigation should be, what it should look like, how it should perform, and so forth. Well, I’ve finally articulated in my mind an idea that I’ve had for a while. Navigation is dead. Really, it’s for the crows. Why worry about what kind of navigation you’re giving your users when you can give them something better: Search. In fact, why put more focus on navigation than you do on search? Hey, Google replaced navigation with search, and look were it got them.
Three Methods of Search
- Let Someone Else Do It
Ummm, can’t we just use Google’s site search? Yea, but then you’re sending you traffic away from your website. You get less control over the process, and what happens when parts of your website aren’t publicly accessible or isn’t indexed by Google? On the upside, it’s super cheap and easy to implement. Oh, and it mostly works well. - Custom Script
That’s an ideal solution right? Well, they’re often difficult to write or find, and they can be inaccurate or excrutiatingly slow, but you do get all the control back. - Search in a Box
Hey, did you know Google sells a standalone, turnkey box that handles search for you. Simply, hook it up to your webserver and go. However, from $1,995 to $30,000, it’s pretty expensive. You do get a lot more flexibility, power, and ability to customize.
Okay, so I don’t have any answers. I do know next time I spend a lot of time thinking about designing a website, I’m going to tackle this search thing head on.
Anyone out there have some brialliant intra-website search solutions?