Re: [Usability] Category Management (i.e. Rhythmbox Music Player)

[Jacob Beauregard <jake13jake comcast net>]

I thought I had differentiated searching vs. browsing, but I'll give it 
another go:

Think of the different reasons you'd use an aggregator (del.icio.us, 
digg, reddit, slashdot aggregators) as opposed to using a search engine 
(google, yahoo, live searches).

In essence, searching is active, requiring direct input from the user.
Meanwhile, browsing is passive, requiring no direct input from the user.

Each one takes a different mindset because searching has a narrow focus 
and browsing has a contextual focus. As a result, they are very 
different experiences.

Here's a brief article that notes some differences.
http://powazek.com/2005/01/000484.html

What I'm trying to get at is that both are useful, but they don't have 
the same reasons for being useful (i.e. search capabilities do not void 
the need for browsing capabilities).

Kirk Bridger wrote:
> There is obviously a lot of thought behind these comments, but I 
> really am confused as to what the actual use case here is. What does 
> the user want to do that searching doesn't accomplish?
>
> Sorry to appear so daft, but it feels like I would like to contribute 
> but am just not grasping what the problem and use case are.
>
> Kirk
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Usability mailing list
> Usability gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability