Advanced Search

Searching is one of the most important activites for users of any large website. I’m always glad to see a big, obvious search box on the first page I hit. Of course, sometimes you need to search for something a bit more specific. That’s where “Advanced Search” with all of their extra search options help out.

eBay confuses the searching

But the Advanced Searches of the web seem to get the short end of the design stick. A few days ago I spent 5 minutes trying to remember how to search for completed items on eBay (this option has moved around over the years).

You see, I mistook all the search options in the sidebar for the Advanced Search. It turns out that the real Advanced Search is on another page. At the very least, they could have put a link to the Advanced Search over in that sidebar where I kept looking for the completed items checkbox.

iStockPhoto makes Advanced Search easier

I really love the route that iStockPhoto has taken here. You have immediate access to most of the criteria you need right on the search bar (keyword, media choices, and sorting options). But if you still need more options, you don’t get whisked away to another page, they just use a little JavaScript goodness to make the search bar expand to show all the options. Brilliant!