[IxDA Discuss] Updating search results on-the-fly

[Mark Canlas]

"Should the results list automatically remove rows that are disqualified
each time the user performs an action?" 

Going purely off of anecdotal experience...

Consider the "Unread mail" search folder in Outlook 2003. It searches for
all unread items in your various mail folders. Depending on your settings,
the act of merely clicking on an item will "mark [it] as read". Unread is
bold, read is normal text. The list doesn't update unless I navigate away
from the screen (specifically, it doesn't take away items from the list, but
will add them if more unread mail comes in).

I think this is the best model, provided you give feedback to user that an
action has occurred. Sometimes, actions can be performed unintentionally,
especially those executed by clicking or manipulating row items (sometimes
you just fumble or jiggle the mouse around and stuff happens. Cat across the
keyboard?).

If you provide feedback and don't change the results, in the event of a
mistake, it allows the user to change the items back to the way they were.
Otherwise, the results would have disappeared from the list, leaving the
user to wonder, "What did I change... Oh well. It's gone now. I wonder if
that was bad."

Conversely, look at iTunes. Let's say I'm search for "Pop" songs and a rock
song comes up mislabeled as pop. The moment I change it to Rock, the song
disappears from the search list immediately. What if I made a mistake? What
if I had more info to update? Not only was it a rock song, but it was done
in the 80s by so and so artist. The file is gone from the list. Oh well.

What's a "worklist"?

-Mark