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UX cheat sheet: searching vs browsing
When designing search results and interest sites, you have to keep in mind what ‘mode’ your user is in. Are they in ‘searching mode’ or ‘browsing mode’? This will help you determine how to design your platform to best support your user’s journey.
A note on this cheat sheet: I call myself a UI designer, not a UX designer, just because I have limited experience in the field and my passion is focused more on ‘making pretty (usable) pictures’. However, I have done a lot of thinking on this topic, so I thought that I should share it and see what you guys think.
In this cheat sheet we will cover the following:
- The differences between searching and browsing mode
- Browsing mode
- Searching mode
- How does each mode affect your UI?
- How browsing and searching modes work together
- Closing thoughts
- References
1. The differences between searching and browsing mode
When a user types something into a search bar, they are probably doing it in one of two scenarios:
Scenario 1: A user types “dentist” into Google.
