Looks like the only difference between the two is that the ‘advanced’ has multi-select facets within an attribute vs basic’s single-select. What would be the benefit to building both vs just going with multi-select?
I think there’s an advantage in building both because they serve two different audiences:
- the basic facet search lends itself to a casual browsing experience. Refining the search, one feature at a time, may be beneficial to a user who is either “just looking” or has a limited sense of what they want. It’s more organic and allows the customer to discover items.
- the advanced facet search is good for the consumer who is more educated on the product they are looking for; either through previous research or previous purchases. They already know, or at least have a good sense of, what they want, so let them get the information they need quickly.
I think there are situations where each facet type has it’s benefits. It’s good to see B&H using each of them here.
I have to say, I find advanced and basic very confusing. I find this approach to facets somewhat confusing.
I just went to B&H and clicked around the advanced and basic, and back and forth between the two, and I know what they are trying to do but I’d think for most lay users it’s be horribly confusing.
They have links, then checkboxes, then buttons that have “update filters”, “remove filters” and “show results”. I’d be confused about what did what. Nothing is clear.
Now it might be just the way that facets work that makes this confusing, but I don’t think that’s a valid excuse. If the concept behind how facets work is confusing then it’s flawed – the user should never be exposed to a confusing concept.
This is not just a B&H issue, I don’t think I’ve seen a single standard UI for facets that was logical – there are a ton of “rich” interfaces that do it well, but that’s due to the whole progressive filtering you can do on the results.
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Looks like the only difference between the two is that the ‘advanced’ has multi-select facets within an attribute vs basic’s single-select. What would be the benefit to building both vs just going with multi-select?
I think there’s an advantage in building both because they serve two different audiences:
- the basic facet search lends itself to a casual browsing experience. Refining the search, one feature at a time, may be beneficial to a user who is either “just looking” or has a limited sense of what they want. It’s more organic and allows the customer to discover items.
- the advanced facet search is good for the consumer who is more educated on the product they are looking for; either through previous research or previous purchases. They already know, or at least have a good sense of, what they want, so let them get the information they need quickly.
I think there are situations where each facet type has it’s benefits. It’s good to see B&H using each of them here.
I have to say, I find advanced and basic very confusing. I find this approach to facets somewhat confusing.
I just went to B&H and clicked around the advanced and basic, and back and forth between the two, and I know what they are trying to do but I’d think for most lay users it’s be horribly confusing.
They have links, then checkboxes, then buttons that have “update filters”, “remove filters” and “show results”. I’d be confused about what did what. Nothing is clear.
Now it might be just the way that facets work that makes this confusing, but I don’t think that’s a valid excuse. If the concept behind how facets work is confusing then it’s flawed – the user should never be exposed to a confusing concept.
This is not just a B&H issue, I don’t think I’ve seen a single standard UI for facets that was logical – there are a ton of “rich” interfaces that do it well, but that’s due to the whole progressive filtering you can do on the results.
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