Is search really the new navigation, as the CEO of DMV.org (an SLI customer) said last year? Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital seems to think so: the firm now features a large search box as the sole element on it’s home page – no photos, no standard navigation, just search. Visitors must enter a search term to get further into the site – although once they do land on a page they will find limited navigation options.
There are various reasons why Sequoia would reduce its website to a search box, according to this write-up in VentureBeat. Regardless of the reasons behind it, you certainly have to wonder if the company that backed Google in its early days might be on to something. Or just on something.
Patricio Robles at Econsultancy says the search box-only page “is a nightmare to use efficiently,” since you have to know exactly what you’re looking for, and you can’t simply browse top-level navigation categories. On the other hand, other industry watchers liked the no-fuss look of the search box, and the fact that it doesn’t distract visitors from the critical goal of finding information.
I agree with Patricio. Despite being a huge fan of site search, I think you need more. To make matters worse the search interface here is non standard – the results are shown (with a very short title) as you type – you have to click on the link at the bottom to see a standard search. I definitely wouldn’t advocate a search only home-page for anyone. What do you think of the idea? Would your visitors embrace it, or hate it?
