Adaptation of a Search User Interface towards User Needs

Abstract

Search user interfaces (SUIs) are usually designed and optimized for generic users or for a certain user group. Users within the group are similar, e.g. concerning their information need, search goals or cognitive skills. These properties influence decisions made in the user interface (UI) design process. However, especially for young and elderly users, design requirements change relatively fast due to changes in users' abilities, so a flexible modification of the SUI is needed. In order to overcome this issue, we suggest to develop an evolving search user interface (ESUI). It adapts the UI dynamically based on the derived capabilities of the user interacting with it. In this paper, we present a first prototypical implementation of this idea: A search user interface which takes the special requirements of children into account and is customizable towards their abilities. We offer adaptation in menu type and structure, search result visualization, surrogate structure, font, audio, theme and other SUI properties. This SUI was evaluated in a user study with 27 children and 17 adults. We present the results of the study and discuss implications for further research towards an ESUI.