Exploring a New Search Engine: Galaxy IT - More Interface Features
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You may have noticed four tabs on the upper right of the grid. Those four tabs correspond to the “topics,” “images,” “video” and “news” items we saw earlier when we looked at Galaxy IT’s search box. So, using the same query, and the default 1-level setting, this is what you get when you click on images:
Pretty nice, eh? I have one little complaint though: hovering over the images doesn’t give you any further information about them, so I have no idea why there’s an image of a person in the lower left hand corner.
Oh, and there’s one more annoyance with the interface: the back button doesn’t work the way you expect it to. I know they’re working on it (they mention that in several places). But let me give you an example of what I mean. The collection of images in the upper right space looked interesting, so I clicked through – and was a little disappointed to find a list of files rather than a larger version of the actual images with more information. Naturally, I hit the back button – and instead of taking me back to the screen I’d just left, I faced Galaxy IT’s empty search box. As I understand it, this kind of problem is not unusual for flash-based interfaces.
Now what happens when you do an “organized” search rather than a “classic” one? According to the company’s press release, an organized search offers users “an infinite galaxy map with their search topic in the center and related categories of topics surrounding the main search. Each category of topic is in turn surrounded by eight results.” Here is what it looks like for flowers:
So we can choose from “flowers in the attic,” “flowers for algernon,” “flowers hospital,” and more. But clicking on these categories doesn’t do anything; for that, we have to scroll out. At this point, the interface’s use of color comes into play, to good effect. When you get to the next level, each set of nine boxes corresponds to one of the topics from the original query – and color-coded borders help you keep them straight. Let me show you what I mean:
Since “flowers for algernon” was in a purple box, the items that Galaxy IT found which pertain to that topic are also in a purple box. In effect, you’re performing nine separate but related searches all at once.
This is an immensely cool feature, and potentially very powerful. But there are a number of problems with the interface itself, and its execution. I’ve mentioned some of them, and I’ll cover the rest in the next section. To be fair, Galaxy IT is in alpha mode, so you have to expect a certain number of bugs.
Next: Areas That Need Work >>
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