1

When I go to UX job interviews, I very often get asked this question:

How would you display a big list of many items and many filters / filter criteria?

For example: consider a huge list of items in a mobile OS scenario. Users need to have a tool which would enable quick filtering through the list and find items of interest. There are above 20 different filter criteria.

2
  • What your first design attempt look like?
    – Erics
    Feb 4, 2014 at 10:09
  • for a question as generic as that one, you can answer equally good/bad, say ... it depends, and wait. Then just point out all the obvious problems. Consider what Jayfang mentioned on that list
    – PatomaS
    Feb 5, 2014 at 2:31

2 Answers 2

3

Firstly it is a poor question to be asked. From Nielsen

Winning app UIs include domain-specific solutions that allow humans to focus on deeper issues while the software takes care of the mechanics. http://www.nngroup.com/articles/best-application-designs/

If you don't know the user domain you won't have a great UI. You can both show astuteness and limit the applicable designs by clarifying:

  • Are any criteria more likely to be filtered on than others?
  • How many entries per criteria? or are some a scale.
  • How much of each item being searched needs to be displayed?
  • Is type text to filter useful against item? And against criteria?
  • Is there a natural hierarchy at play? (trees, exclusive options)
  • Is user visual scan fast or slow (e.g. Flags/Faces vs. text )

The right UI should vary depending on the answers.

0

Maybe it would be a great idea to display attribute filters with the corresponding column headers, if possible. This can also be achieved when the attributes per combo-filter do not intersect (like a set of column groups with their filters).

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.