5 whole minutes about sort and filter
DESCRIPTION
In the context of the Web, what are Sort and Filter? Do designers and developers fully appreciate the difference? What about users? What are some common design patterns for Sort and Filter, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Slides for an Ignite talk at the 2011 Internet User Experience Conference. October 11, 2011. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.TRANSCRIPT
5 WHOLE MINUTES ABOUT SORT AND FILTER
IUE 2011
Danielle Cooley @dgcooley
Sort, defined
to place (records) in order, as numerical or alphabetical, based on the contents of one or more keys contained in each record
Like this:
Filter, defined
a higher-order function that processes a data structure (typically a list) in some order to produce a new data structure containing exactly those elements of the original data structure for which a given predicate returns the boolean value true
Like this:
They are not the same.
=/=Sort Filter
Yet many misuse the terms.
!
Do users understand the difference?
Probably not.
But it doesn’t really matter.
Somehow, filter has (mostly) evolved in a user-friendly way.
Sort – Link
Sort – Dropdown
Sort – Jigga-WHA?!
Sort – Sorting by the Usual Things…
Price – high to lowPrice – low to high
NameReview/RatingPopularityBestsellersBest Match (?)
Sort – Sorting by Other Things…
Bestsellers/Popularity
Greatest % off
New Arrivals
“Featured”
Sort – Sorting by Specific Things…
Publication DateDimensions (all 3)
Sort – What’s the Default?
Bestsellers/PopularityGreatest % offNew Arrivals
Sort – Not Sorting
Filter – Single-Select (link)
Filter – Single-Select (dropdown)
Filter – Multi-Select (checkboxes)
Filter – Sliders