How to indicate AND and OR in a search form

Question

I am designing a search form where the user has to indicate if the field is required or optional, this will affect the way the query is built. For example if the user marks the field as required, in the query it would be an AND and if the user marks the field as optional in the query it would be OR.

I am thinking & and || as icons to represent them, but I think the users have not enough technical knowledge to know what it means. First thing I came up with was an asterisk (*) icon for required but I couldn't figure out for optional.

What do you suggest?

Answer 1

I'm basing this on a fairly common design, which is to have a search field where everything is required, and another for OR'd options. Apple use that type of system in the finder's search tool, albeit a little more complex.

But for your application it would look like this...

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

The logic would be (dog AND brown AND (cat OR leopard OR gecko))

You can do a pure AND just by filling in the first field, and a pure OR just by filling in the second field.

You could also make the "All of the terms" and "Any of the terms" a drop down, so people can choose whether to do an AND or an OR. Like...

^{download bmml source}

That is a little simpler and the query reads nicely, but it loses you a little expressive power - but unless you're getting into very complex search specifications (which are not really useful unless you have massive databases or need statistical outputs) probably isn't worth the effort for you or your users.

Answer 2

I'm actually against this, because it increases the amount of time a user has to take to read and decide what it means.

I'd rather tweak the search appliance/results set to optimize what's shown, based on your type of content.

For a Google Search Appliance I did at www.wirefly.com/search we used an "and" statement, because the "or" was diluting our results.

Test, tune, adjust accordingly.

Answer 3

Some ideas.

One, assume all optional unless a user makes it required:

    Search:
    +---------------+
    |               | [X] Make this required
    +---------------+

Two, do the google way and add some helper text:

    Search:
    +---------------+
    |               | 
    +---------------+
    Tip: Add a '+' before a term to make it required. 

Three, make it more of a sentence using a drop down:

    Search:
    +---------------+           +---------------+
    |               | [and \/]  |               | 
    +---------------+           +---------------+ 

As for icons, I agree that && and || are likely not universally known outside of math/programming. I think a '+' would make sense for and, however. And for or, it's such a short word, perhaps 'or' could suffice as an icon.

Answer 4

This might be silly and different , This is something that will go with the mental model of the users.

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

I don't have any data to back up.

Answer 5

Ancestry.com has an interesting take on this kind of a query: below each field the user can specify whether the corresponding value must occur exactly as specified; when the constraint is not set, the system uses the extra information for ranking purposes. That is, OR is the default, but any field can be required to match (i.e., AND).

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

For expressing complex information needs this kind of flexibility is quite useful.