33
votes
Accepted
Is the "filter" icon widely recognised by users?
The NNGroup sums it up pretty nicely here: Icon Usability
A user’s understanding of an icon is based on previous experience. Due to the absence of a standard usage for most icons, text labels are ...
- 1,345
22
votes
Default filtering behavior: Everything displayed or everything hidden?
By definition, a filter is a tool that help users narrow down to a subset of results that is most interesting to them. Consequently, when a filter is active, the results displayed should be less than ...
- 1,686
22
votes
Accepted
If the user has set a search filter, but the data is N/A, should it be shown
Some sites have "near miss" matches after their exact matches.
If a user has exhausted everything precisely matching their criteria but is still looking, there's a clear line and an explanation that ...
- 2,656
20
votes
Accepted
An important default filter being set - should a "Clear" button clear this important filter?
There are certainly other solutions, but probably the simplest would be to change the button text from "Clear All" to "Reset Filters".
Now, instead of "emptying all filters&...
- 19.3k
19
votes
How to accomodate and/or with brackets in field filtering system
Nested blocks in a vertical layout
This pattern tested very well with our users. It uses common language to explain what you are looking for and allows any level of complex grouping where individual ...
- 15.8k
18
votes
Accepted
Apply filters immediately or after confirming with a button?
That depends on technical aspects of the system,
as a thumb rule, it's always a good idea to provide facets results immediately, and by doing that also eliminate non-relevant results,
but, if the ...
- 1,000
17
votes
Accepted
Top-down hamburger menu / is it a cool experience regarding my application?
A few things about your question and some next steps:
User Experience Experts are just people that swallow their pride & know to ask their users / customers. I'd like to think my experience gives ...
- 498
16
votes
Accepted
Put a search/filter above or below a list?
For most decisions about whether to put an interactive element (filter control, comments box, etc.) above or below an element it usually comes down to which you want the user to read and engage first. ...
- 15.2k
14
votes
Filter by dietary preferences
You could make the labels of the checkboxes negative (e.g. Pork-free or No Pork). I would change the checkboxes to toggles as it makes it more clear whether you tick something to be excluded or to be ...
- 2,403
13
votes
Searching with mandatory filters
If the filter is mandatory, choose the most frequent search as the default.
You can try a scoped search dropdown before the search input field. This way the search button is Active from the beginning.
...
- 22.9k
13
votes
Is the "filter" icon widely recognised by users?
No, use the icon with a label.
It's not safe to assume that people understand the meaning of the icon as it is used to adjust their preferences and to filter the results. So the meaning is already ...
- 10.5k
11
votes
Search Vs. Filter- what is the difference
From a technical point of view the two are basically the same (i.e. excluding elements from a list, based on some criterias)
From a user point of view, it's very different:
Search is done as a ...
11
votes
Accepted
Searching with mandatory filters
I remember GitHub had something like what Mike M suggested for their search. I just noticed that it's changed, and what they do now is make the selection a part of their autocomplete-like menu:
I ...
- 476
11
votes
Filter by dietary preferences
Does creating the filter in this way break consistency with other filters you are using? If so it would be better to find a way to create a filter using consistent logic by rephrasing the query.
The ...
- 674
11
votes
Is the "filter" icon widely recognised by users?
I do see the funnel icon used widely for "filter" but in this case you've labeled it "preferences", so I think we have a bit of a disconnect there. I would expect most users to ...
- 241
10
votes
Accepted
Should searching a table include hidden columns?
Avoiding the dilemma
There's a possible solution without falling into this dilemma:
Give users the choice, just by adding a checkbox below the search/filter input which specifies "Search in ...
- 10.4k
10
votes
Material Design data table filtering
If you need complex filter consider creating a separate section. Perhaps a "actions" section on top of the table where users can not just filter but perform other actions to interact or modify the ...
- 271
9
votes
If the user has set a search filter, but the data is N/A, should it be shown
No. For the user to actively specify a color, then see colors which do not match their specification risks confusion and a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the tool.
An alternative would be to ...
- 317
8
votes
Accepted
Best UX approach for filtering product categories?
It is almost always better to both (a) cut out unnecessary steps, and (b) immediately show the user results of an action. Automatically filtering results when the user clicks a check box does both of ...
- 1,093
8
votes
Show Results Before Searching
For questions like this, especially around customer experience in e-commerce, I sometimes try to imagine the situation as it might occur in the brick-and-mortar world.
In an actual shop, would you ...
- 165
8
votes
Accepted
How to offer multiple filter options when technically constrained to one?
Use a tabbed container for the filters
A common and acceptable way to separate filter options, is to user tabs (or versions of tabs) This can often be seen on travel websites, where users can search ...
- 11.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Do users understand when a title is a button
I would never understand that the [Filter by] and [Sort by] elements are clickable if you did not write it. It is not a good approach.
However, even at the end they are a little bit confusing to me. ...
- 13.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Is a timeline a form of sorting?
For a timeline to be more than a "sort by date" option, it needs to have another facet to it.
What other useful information will displayed by the timeline other than just the order in which events ...
- 12.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Real time filtering vs Apply filters button?
This is a very general question, You won't find studies or consensus on such a question. Reason is that in the core of UX is to work out a solution to problems that involve many variable specific to ...
- 32.1k
7
votes
Search Vs. Filter- what is the difference
To be crisp
Search
Begins from none and adds to the list of results based on the criteria that matched.
Data gathering process and no hierarchy is expected.
Target is unknown and results displayed as ...
- 486
7
votes
Accepted
Is there any reason Google does not provide any filter beyond bare search bar?
The Google home page is simple and uncluttered.
But, once you search for something - you can filter:
Are we missing something - or are you?
- 70.7k
7
votes
Four states, one checkbox - any way for it to make sense?
Well, you have the answer in your question - you lined up the answers like a bullet list. Do the same, but with radio buttons. They are often the best option when there are few options, but one (and ...
- 4,163
7
votes
How to accomodate and/or with brackets in field filtering system
Users
First you need to know who are the users and if this approach fits their needs and skills. For most business users and/or logic is hard to understand and should be avoided. Technicians or ...
- 1,463
7
votes
Searching with mandatory filters
Since this is a mandatory tasks before interacting with search, consider search like the Call to action like save or submit. Before you can accomplish these actions you must fill out a form.
In this ...
- 589
7
votes
Accepted
How to sort and filter a constantly changing list of data?
Following the OP's update, I'll start with a specific suggestion for their problem. This will be followed by the sort of approach that you might take in the more general case (a slightly updated ...
- 2,635
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible