Have you ever tried the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google? It’s meant to take you directly to the result you want, rather than return a list of results. It’s a simple idea, and when it works it seems like magic.
But most of the time we are not so lucky. We submit a query and review the results, only to find they’re not quite what we were looking for. Occasionally, we review a further page or two of results, but in most cases it’s quicker just to enter a new query and try again. In fact, this pattern of behaviour is so common that techniques have been developed specifically to help us along this part of our information journey. In particular, three versions of as-you-type suggestions— auto-complete, auto-suggest, and instant results—subtly guide us in creating and reformulating queries.
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But most of the time we are not so lucky. We submit a query and review the results, only to find they’re not quite what we were looking for. Occasionally, we review a further page or two of results, but in most cases it’s quicker just to enter a new query and try again. In fact, this pattern of behaviour is so common that techniques have been developed specifically to help us along this part of our information journey. In particular, three versions of as-you-type suggestions— auto-complete, auto-suggest, and instant results—subtly guide us in creating and reformulating queries.
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