This is a review of popular search engines, which will be marked on usability, accessibility, and relevance of medium (whether it be flat HTML, Javascript driven HTML or Flash). I have chosen Google, Yahoo, Alltheweb Live Search, Ask Alexia & Ms Dewey as my candidates for this review. I will evalute the aspects of each site and provide a conclusion based on my findings.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review!
— James Willock.

Usability

Google provides perhaps the cleanest initial UI to searching — a blank white page, with only their logo, search elements and a few text links visible. From a usability perspective this simplicity is a major plus — there is very little clutter for the user to get lost in and the search elements are easy to find and use. Google do not customise their search widgets (input boxes, buttons), so the user is presented with his or her's browser's default — customised widgets may prove confusing for newer web users.

The search results page cannot provide as clean an interface by virtue of its content, but Google's simplicity is admirable. Search results are provided in a cleanly listed manner, containing the title of the website, a brief snippet of relevant content and a web address. The only non-relevant elements come from sponsered adverts, but their textual format diverts little attention from the user.

Usability — 4/5

Accessibility

The simplicity noted above definitely eases accessibility concerns for users with disabilities. Colors are kept clean and contrasted for color-blind users. Screen readers will have no problem quickly getting to search elements and results due to the lack of non-relevant information on the page. Nevertheless, Google employ no advanced methods (such as a "straight to content" link) to improve accessibility for screen readers.

Accessibility — 4/5

Use of medium

Google employ the use of flat HTML which does not validate and some CSS to define page elements. Due to this their page will display largely the same over most modern browsers which represents a massive bonus. Low-fat HTML and a lack of images mean pages use a small amount of bandwidth and render extremely quickly.

Use of medium — 3/5

Usability

Contrasting Google, Yahoo provide their search engine as an element of their portal-esque homepage. Despite the busy nature of the page, with content from almost every area of general interest, the search elements remain clearly indicated, centrally aligned at the top of the page. Their search elements are customised to provide clear aesthetics to the page, but remain obvious enough to not create usability issues.

The search results page provides a very similar experience to Google's — with search results being provided in a clear, color-contrasted list. The results page contains no adverts or other elements to draw attention away from the requested content.

Usability — 4/5

Accessibility

Placing the search elements towards the top of the homepage allows Yahoo to escape concerns that screen-readers may have difficulty finding the search widgets on the page. The very simple search results, akin to Google's, providing easy access to content for screen-readers, and contrasting colors for color-blind users.

Accessibility — 4/5

Use of medium

Yahoo use a combination of flat HTML and relatively complex CSS to provide a rich user experience, but their usage of Internet Explorer stylesheet hacks, sprawling archaic Javascript, and needlessly inline styles clutter up what is essentially semantic HTML.

Use of medium — 3/5

Usability

Alltheweb provide a UI that breaks from usual convention, sporting a relatively clean page with customised search elements. A new user make take some seconds to orientate and figure out where to begin to input their search terms. While the page itself is clean, the search elements are needlessly unusual and the lack of "Search!" or "Go!" button may leave the user confused. Search results, however, follow the same pattern as Google and Yahoo, being visually very similar.

The site itself uses AJAX technology to dynamically display content on the page without reloading or refreshing. This manifests itself as search results displaying when the users finishing entering search terms. This represents a change towards desktop-esque application programming, with data being available on-demand instantaneously rather than on click-through. A user with a slow Internet connection or browser may find this speeds up their searching experience, and many may find this a more "streamlined" interface. Nevertheless, a browser not equipped with Javascript will be met with an error page, showing the engine does not degrade gracefully.

Usability — 3/5

Accessibility

Making heavy use of AJAX technology, the Live Search blocks all non-Javascript enabled user-agents, meaning screen readers will be unable to access search functionality. Search widgets and results are high-contrast, which is helpful for color-blind users.

Accessibility — 2/5

Use of medium

The use of AJAX and instant content delivery represents a move forward in web technology, but remains perhaps somewhat unweildly at this time. If the system can be made to degrade gracefully so older user-agents can still reliably use the site, viability would be much improved.

Use of medium — 4/5

Usability

Ask Alexia provides a visually unappealing, but easy to understand UI based on AJAX technology. The search elements do not perform as smoothly as the Alltheweb alternatives, requiring a user-click to perform the live search. Search results are, again, laid out in a similar fashion to Google and Yahoo, being easy to read and understand.

As with Alltheweb's engine, Ask Alexia does not degrade gracefully on user-agents without Javascript — but instead of displaying an error, the search elements merely do not work. This presents a massive usability and accessibility issue.

Usability — 2/5

Accessibility

The site will display on non Javascript-enabled browsers, but the page will be unusable on screen-readers that do not evaluate and render Javascript, effectively making the site useless for these browsers.

Accessibility — 2/5

Use of medium

Ask Alexia makes use of AJAX technology in order to improve user experience, but applies it in an unsubtle manner, and fails to make it degrade gracefully.

Use of medium — 3/5

Usability

Ms. Dewey provides perhaps the most instantly-engaging user experience, presenting a young female actress as a search "assistant", spouting quips and amusing actions as you type your search terms.

The site is based on Flash technology to deliver the Ms. Dewey video in a highly compressed format. Due to this format, however, searches can take some seconds to be answered on a high-speed connection, making it less-than-viable for searching without gimmicks. The search elements are easy to use, but results are displayed in low-contrast and scrolling of results is done by entirely unintuitive mouse movements.

Usability — 2/5

Accessibility

The site, created using Flash technology, will not display on browsers without the Flash player plugin. Additionally, screen readers traditionally have been unable to intepret Flash. The site was undoubtedly built for modern browsers and fully abled users (with reliance on video and audio).

Accessibility — 0/5

Use of medium

Flash technology allows the site to stream high-quality video media, but the usage of flash for searching and search results is unnecessary and cumbersome.

Use of medium — 3/5

In my studies, I have ascertained the following:

• Search results across search engines are invariably displayed in a very similar manner. This is useful to users who may wish to use different sites for their searching requirements.
• AJAX, as an emerging technology, can be used in an intuitive way to aid user experience. Currently, however, the big contenders in the search genre have failed to use it in a way that degrades gracefully and improves user expereince.
• Flash is an extremely useful technology for displaying rich video, but fails to be accessible for a large number of users, and should be perhaps treated as a tool — like Javascript — rather than an all-encompassing language to replace HTML.

I believe that Google still provide the fastest, accessible, and uncluttered searching environment available. Users wishing to combine AJAX technology with the simplicity of Google might consider Google Suggest.