Searching

A transactional method for retrieving specific information by matching actor intent (query) with system content. Unlike Navigating (where actors move through structure) or Browsing (where actors scan for patterns), Search relies on the system to do the heavy lifting of evaluation and discrimination.

Anatomy

The search experience spans three distinct phases, often distributed across different UI components:

1. Entry & query formulation

The point where the actor expresses intent.

Keyword search: Matches exact strings or tags. Best for specific items (names, IDs).
Natural language prompt: Describes the desired outcome or characteristics. Best for complex queries that would otherwise require heavy filtering.
Scope:
- Global: Searches the entire system.
- Local: Searches only within the current context.

2. Processing & translation

Lexical and statistical retrieval: explicit algorithms relying on patterns in the text.
AI intent translation: The system bridges the gap between the actor’s language and the system’s taxonomy.

Instant results: Popover or dropdown.
Search results view: A dedicated data view.

Stability & undo

Search shouldn’t destroy context. It should be easily reversible, returning the actor to their previous state (e.g., scroll position) without friction.

Combobox — the entry-phase mechanism for instant-results

Resources

Luke Wroblewski / Tackling Common UX Hurdles with AI — On using world knowledge to rethink search inputs
NN/g / Search: Visible and Simple
NN/g / Search Is Not Enough — Why navigation remains essential for teaching users the “Search Space” and reducing cognitive load
Apple HIG: Search
Bruce Tognazzini / Browse vs. Search — Argument for why search dominates efficiency but browse (navigation) remains essential for context

Related patterns

Precedes

Data view — displays the result set a search produces
Overview — a search can fail, leaving the actor with intent but no result — browsing the structure ("browse by category instead") is the fallback seeking move

Complements

Autocomplete — real-time narrowing of query suggestions as the actor types
Bounded choice — where the move escalates when the set outgrows narrowing
Fully connected — alternative navigation path
Hub and spoke — alternative to hub browsing for known destinations
Multilevel tree — escape hatch when hierarchy fails
Pan and zoom — enables jumping to locations
Filtering — often used after a search to refine results; in AI-search, filters are the output of the search query
Prompt — modern search inputs are evolving into prompt interfaces, accepting instructions alongside keywords
Suggestion — "did you mean?" and related patterns that guide query formulation

Intent & Interaction
Selection — Search shrinks the population from which selections are drawn

Preceded by

Information architecture

Instantiated by

Command menu — searching is the broader seeking move, applied to a command vocabulary