It depends on the context of use, and, as your programmer friend mentioned, the number of results (or complexity and time used in getting the results). Many workflow systems use the null search to display all possible cases, very helpful when you have no idea what you are supposed to put on your expense report for "ISN Department". Seriously, what the heck does that MEAN?
I don't like that the button is labeled "search" when I haven't put in a query string, but otherwise I would never be able to submit an expense report without this feature. However, for any system where I can be reasonably expected to know something about what I am searching for, like Google or iTunes or Netflix, I agree with Wil that the null case should be disallowed programmatically. Dante Murphy | Director of User Experience| D I G I T A S H E A L T H 229 South 18th Street | Rittenhouse Square | Philadelphia, PA 19103 | USA Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.digitashealth.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Liou Yamane Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 5:42 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Empty search query: what result? Hi there, I have encountered the following problem several times at my current job as a IxD-er without finding a satisfying solution: "What to do when a search is executed with no input, thus an empty search query?" Concretely, this means hitting the search button next to an empty text field. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
