I read a piece a while ago, but can’t remember where (hey, I’m super-informative, aren’t I?), which bemoaned the fact that most web-browser users actually use them in ways that the designers scarcely intended, and also make use of very very few of the features that would help them to get results that are useful and targeted.<\/p>\n
One example of bizarre behaviour is that most browser-users apparently fail to distinguish between the address box at top of the browser window, into which URLs can be typed directly, and the search box of their favourite search-engine. The result of this is that, since search is what people do all the time \u2014 it’s what they know \u2014 it’s common for them to type a URL, even if they know what it is<\/em>, into the search-engine’s search box, and then find the link to the site they want from the search results, rather than to feed the URL to the browser directly. It’s one of those <hits head> moments that drive programmers slightly nuts. No matter how much care and attention you might lavish on interface design, the user knows best, and won’t be gainsaid.<\/p>\n An example of inefficient search behaviour is that users typically make use of none of the more-advanced search-syntax features that most engines provide. None of the boolean operators, nor the ability to search for pages without<\/em> specific words, for example. Most users scarcely even use quotation marks to identify the search term as a phrase, rather than just an unordered collection of words.<\/p>\n