Faceted Seaching

In the "old" days of digital asset management users found data by entering a search term into a small box on the screen then,  with high hopes, pressed "Enter". Users with a greater sense of adventure bravely pressed the button labeled "Advanced Search" for a more powerful search experience.

So what's wrong with this picture?

In both cases the user was forced to "guess" at the metadata terms attached to the digital content. If the user "guessed" the metadata value correctly, digital assets were presented. If an incorrect guess was made? ... Well, we all know the answer only to well.

"Faceted Search" solves the guessing game problem. Faceted search has been around for a long time but only recently has it started to be better understood (and leveraged) in the world of content management. You can think of faceted searching as a technique for visually refining a digital asset search. Here how it works; Facets (general categories) are usually listed in a window pane on the left side of the screen. Displayed under each facet are specifc metadata tag values associated with the digital assets (the quantity of assets with the specific tag value are also displayed). Clicking on any displayed metadata tag value refines the visual search result display to include only assets that have the same common tag.

The "search box", while appropriate for expert users who already have a good understanding of the metadata values, is less useful to a casual user. The advantage of the faceted search approach is the user's ability to see the metadata values interactively as the search is refined.

There's a place for both approaches in today's content management world. Faceted search is a good example of "thinking outside of the search box".