A single incremental search field coupled with a decent search engine, allows to search by name, surname, address, and/or phone number (w/o dashes), in any order, with maximum efficiency.
Proof of concept: http://icograma.com/raf08/ This mockup, in spanish, is part of a 45' presentation we gave in the 2008 Microsoft Regional Architect Forum ( summarized english translation available: http://icograma.com/articles/raf2008.en.php ). The database holds around 5,000 clients and 4,000 movies, what was a typical scenario for a video rental store in our research. Names and surnames were taken randomly from public listings. KLM-GOMS shows that a desired contact can be found as the first or only result in around 5 seconds. Case: Looking for "Jorge Gonzalez". "Gonzalez" is one of the most common surrnames in the database. We start typing the surname, and get live results sorted by relevance. [mental preparation: 1.35 secs.] By typing "gonz" we already found all the "gonzalez". [type 'gonz', 0.8 secs. mental preparation, 1.35 secs] We type 'space' and start typing first name. [type ' jor', 0.8 secs] As the query string reaches "gonz jor", we narrowed the search to just two people named "Jorge Gonzalez". With a simple relevance algorythm, the first one should be the one we most probably want. We spent just 4.30 secs. -- Santiago Bustelo, Icograma Buenos Aires, Argentina //// IxDA BA es el primer grupo local en castellano. //// Te esperamos! http://groups.google.com/group/ixda-ba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41113 ________________________________________________________________ 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
