Search rarely stands alone. In most contexts, users move between modes of searching, browsing, and asking. They don't bother about borders. We can learn from their example by embracing the pattern of patterns known as unified discovery. Sometimes it's about making the modes work together. Other times it's about merging modes. For instance, Yahoo! Glue Pages are specialized, visually appealing, browsable search results. They're Google and Wikipedia, gateway and destination, search and browse all rolled into one.
We're also making browse more like search. At Lands' End, there's little difference between search results and a gallery page (see Figure 4-63) that results from browse. Pagination and the sort and display options are handled the same way. Plus, even as we browse the product taxonomy, faceted navigation options appear to the left.
Unfortunately, Lands' End fails to integrate modes in other important ways. There's no scoped search, so we can't limit our queries to women's sweaters or boys' shoes. And, although it does offer a useful Live Help feature, the collaboration is hindered because, as Figure 4-64 shows, we can't easily share our results with the representative.
One way to make the modes work together is by leveraging category matches. When a user's query partially or exactly matches a category label, we have a choice. One option, shown in Figure 4-65, is to highlight the category match and present results as usual. That's a reasonable solution for a partial match. However, users may not notice the category link or understand what it represents. An alternative is to jump to the category page, also shown in Figure 4-65. This requires an exact match or the ability to map a near match onto a single category. In such cases, an override option that lets users run their original query is helpful, since the category page may not always be the desired result.
A third option is evident at Amazon (shown in Figure 4-66), where category matches are integrated as facets to the left of results. This is a balanced solution that keeps the user in search while leveraging the structure of the browsable taxonomy.
Of course, Amazon is the champion when it comes to making search and browse work together. As Figure 4-67 shows, while we browse departments, scoped search offers to limit our queries to that section. At Amazon, whether we search or browse first, we can always switch to the other mode without losing our place.
Unified discovery provides a framework in which to integrate patterns. For each search pattern, we should ask how it might relate to browse. Autocomplete and best first might automatically feature category matches. Personalized search may be informed by our current location and browsing history. And, of course, the key fields and filters of faceted navigation should be aligned with categories and the overall information architecture.
