[IxDA Discuss] Number of search results to display

[Jim Drew]

>From: "Cagwin, Virginia" <Virginia.Cagwin at turner.com>
>
>"So, while results appeared very quickly, the first thing *every* user
>did with them is sort them by date, author, or whatever would help make
>them useful. Only when sorting was complete did users feel as though
>they could declare victory."
> 
>When does the list become unbearable to scroll through even if I can
>sort?

Scrolling probably isn't even an issue here.  If there are enough items displayed in no discernable, useful order such that the user has to *read* each item (as opposed to scan the list) to find what he wants, sorting is desirable and you've hit the "unbearable" point.

Experience/gut reaction tells me that number is 3.  With 3 or less items, you read and scan about equally; with 4 or more items, scanning is faster than reading the entire list.  (With 2 items, there is no such thing as random order, as some order can be inferred no matter what, and read and scan become the same thing.  With 3 items, scan is probably marginally faster than read, but not much, and the odds of things being in an assumed order despite being truly random is still fairly high.)

(These numbers are not experimentally verified by me.)

-- Jim