Find what I mean: exploring new kinds of search results

This paper discusses various scenarios encountered by visitors using search for a large documentation library. It identifies potential problems arising from the users' level of understanding of the documentation and the search system. It proposes solutions to these problems, some of which are common to other search systems, and others that may be specific to this type of documentation and audience.The paper then considers ways in which the documentation can be organized and written to make choices easier for searchers. It presents examples of popular destinations and typical navigation paths, illustrating how users sometimes find what they want, and other times find it difficult to make a choice or end up in the wrong place.In particular, it explores nontraditional techniques such as:

• Guiding users to "jumping off" points, where they can perform searches using predefined terms and search options.

• Identifying and recovering from specific search errors made by frequent users, as opposed to isolated, individual errors.

• Rewording headings to persuade or dissuade searchers as appropriate. Some headings are made more emphatic, others are intentionally made more vague.