Got a call not long ago from a sales guy at "The fastest growing new search engine on the web"--or so he said. At JDM, we need to keep our ears to the ground so I took the call.
Apparently this fancy new search engine called RedZee, uses a visual interface rather than just the old-fashioned text-based stuff we're all accustomed to.
RedZee has a cute animated mascot developed by Pixar. The visual "Fan" interface looks a lot like Apple's Cover Flow. Which is great--for covers. But as a search interface, unfortunately, the form steps on the function.
While it's very nice to be able to see your search results as visual images, you can't really judge the quality of a search result from a thumbnail screen preview. Full-page text results allow you to determine the best results at a glance. Also the sponsored search results are not obvious, so it's difficult to determine the organic results from the paid.
Is JDM just too used to the tried-and-true search engine interface? Give it a go and let us know. http://www.RedZee.com
For more information about search engines with innovative interfaces see our post: "Search Engine Innovation."
Red Zee seems pretty superficial and not a VSE (visual search engine)I would choose. It's a little difficult to browse the pages and there is no easy-to-find filtering or advanced search capability.
ReplyDeleteThe one I have used and like is searchme.com. It has a channel tabs feature (web,video, news, shopping etc.); doesn't try to impress with the number of pages found; easy "flip the pages" nav and a "magnifying glass" feature that lets you read the page without opening the page.
Another nice: it highlights (circles) the search term(s) you used to begin with on the mini-display of pages.
Yet another nice: No cloying, annoying Pixar mascot. The red-striped zebra makes me think "what would Microsoft do to make 'Office Assistant' characters better?... I know! They'd hire Pixar!"
Nice suggestion, David. I quite like how http://www.searchme.com works.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the cute mascot, I think it does build brand recognition in a way the MS Office Paperclip does not.
They claim to be "the fastest growing new search engine on the web" and according to Alexa, they're not doing bad. However they are young. When JDM made it's first hire in 2007, we grew 100%.
Time will tell if VSEs are the future or a fad.
Thanks for this good post.........
ReplyDelete