Thus, this paper presents a set of principles for evaluation and discusses how ENC's information retrieval system, named the Enhanced Resource Finder, does or does not fulfill these design goals. Help the user develop an understanding of the operation of the interface and the search process. A well-designed interface provides assistance to the information seeker so that the person can map his or her knowledge of the topic into the system. This assistance can take a number of forms. Provide categories to help the user understand how the search can be structured.
Explicit categories are useful when they help the information seeker in formulating a search.
Showing the available search categories and terms gives the searcher a way to match his or her own description of the topic to vocabularies used by the indexers. Figure 1 shows the opening screen of the Enhanced Resource Finder. Notice that searchable fields are indicated by labeled buttons. Play with the order, number, size, shape and labels so that the most commonly used or important functions are the most salient on the screen. This step includes reducing banners or logos so that they blend into the background instead of distracting the user's attention.