Often visitors find themselves in a clueless situation while trying to find particular information on a website; especially on a website with a lot of content. A search option comes to their rescue in this situation. Moreover, it acts as a crucial navigation tool and guides users to the intended information. Most of the websites offer a clearly visible search button on the homepage. Search button acts as an assistant to the users and thus needs to be designed properly. Without a well designed and easy to navigate search button, viewers won’t stick to your website and will simply bounce off. If your content is growing at a rapid pace, you surely need a search box, and make sure you design it good. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while designing and putting a search box to effective use.

1. Use The Universal Magnifying Glass Icon

When you are designing your search box, keep the familiar magnifying glass icon. This helps visitors to easily locate the search box. When viewers are trying to find some information or a product which they don’t find easily, you really don’t want them to put more efforts in looking for a search box. While looking for a search bar, natural instincts force them to look for a magnifying glass, as it is a universal search icon. Continue with the same icon because a majority of visitors, if not all, are familiar with the icon.

2. Search Bar Must Be Prominent

While displaying the search bar, ensure that the design is prominent so that it can be easily found. When answers are hard to find, your search bar needs to be available as a quick and easy solution. Not just the icon, but the text field should also be easily visible so that your viewers know where to ask their question. Placement of the search bar has been a matter of discussion among designers since ages. The truth of the matter is that it should be placed where the user expects it to be; which is either at upper right-hand corner or upper center section of the page. Top corners of the page are often where people expect it to be, as a lot of popular websites place it over there.

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3. A Submit Button Is Must

The search button on your website is like Google. The difference is that Google searches the query across the web, whereas search box looks for answers from your website. As a result, it should be reasonable for viewers to expect that by typing in a question, they have to submit their query by clicking on the ‘enter’ button. However, it does help to have a large submit button which shows your viewers what to do. It helps to make this area large so that viewers don’t have to click and point the mouse or tap a narrow area on a phone or tablet. Many viewers will click on ‘enter’ instead of submit. When designing your website, you can test that the enter button will work in order to produce the correct results.

4. Search Box On Every Page

Placing a search box on every page increases the efficiency of your website. Visitors may get stuck on any of your web pages and at that time can easily navigate their way using the search option. They might reach to a web page from the home page using the search option, and they may even be happy with the content they find there, but they may wish to explore more. If there’s no search box on that web page, they will again get lost. Search bar should also be included on dead end links such as any 404 pages, so that your viewers will be able to find information they are looking for and return to your main site should they need to.

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5. Long Search Field

When your viewers type a query into your search field, you must have enough space there so that they can see what they are doing. This way, they will be able to review or edit their query. Ideally, your text box should allow 27 characters or more because most queries will be contained in this amount of space. Set your width using ems, or the size of one letter m. This will enable you to judge your space effectively. In order to save space, an expanding search field, which grows as the user types in a question, should be used.

courtesy:Cnet

6. Auto-Suggestions Enabled

Autosuggestion is a blessing for visitors who are typing their queries into the search box. It prompts them to quickly reach to what they are looking for. Framing queries is a tricky business and not everyone is good at it. If visitors don’t find any relevant answers to their query, it’s very hard for them to rephrase the question without being prompted. By using the auto-suggestion box, users are able to search for content effectively.

courtesy:Cnet

Conclusion

A search bar offers your viewers the opportunity to navigate your site quickly and efficiently in order to find the content they are searching for. This aids user experience and provide them with some sense of control. It should be bold and easy to find, so that the user is never confused about how to find information. User experience is a vital part of web designing and plays a pivotal role in the success of your website.  Our experts  are ready to guide you on how to design a UX rich website.

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