Seems that Few Users Know How to Search Using Tags

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Seems that Few Users Know How to Search Using Tags

(at least down south )

I just read this article in LifeHacker.au, and I am totally amazed:

 

 

Evernote is the favourite note-taking and organisation software for Lifehacker readers, and rightly so. If you use it right, it’s a beast. But one common problem is that after a while, your tags don’t help in searching for the right item, because they can also show up as regular words within your notes. The Alpha Efficiency blog has a cool workaround: add an X at the end of the word.

 

So the tag “idea” becomes “ideaX” and “note” becomes “noteX”. The blog explains that not many words end with an X, making this an effective tagging system. They also tried hashtags, but Twitter has made that a no-go now.

 

This implies that few users know the Search grammar "tag:<TagName>" to search specifically (only) for Tags.

And, evidently, they don't know how to use the Tag drop-down filter.

 

This suggests that the Evernote UI does not make it obvious enough on how to search/filter by Tag.

 

I'd like to offer a suggestion to remedy this problem, but I have none. 

 

Of course, this was the Australian LifeHacker, so maybe that's a factor.

(just kidding!!!!)

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Incompetent writer, I'm afraid. If they clicked the link they provided in the post, they'd see a page written by a fellow colleague at Lifehacker explaining just that. Heck, that search grammar is even right there in the screenshot! Palm to forehead, remove, edit post, delete everything but the link for the far better post, and save. I'm usually not so harsh, but this is "Lifehacker," which I expect to at least know basic information about the stuff they suggest.

Then again, maybe we are missing something here. Is this a widespread problem?

[cwb 225]

I'd be inclined to say Evernote can't and shouldn't UI a solution to an AOL user problem.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Incompetent writer, I'm afraid. If they clicked the link they provided in the post, they'd see a page written by a fellow colleague at Lifehacker explaining just that. Heck, that search grammar is even right there in the screenshot! Palm to forehead, remove, edit post, delete everything but the link for the far better post, and save. I'm usually not so harsh, but this is "Lifehacker," which I expect to at least know basic information about the stuff they suggest.

Then again, maybe we are missing something here. Is this a widespread problem?

 

Good catch, GM.  One that I should have caught myself.  :-(

 

I too generally expect good stuff from Lifehacker -- I guess that's why I didn't probe further.

 

I do suspect that there are many users who never do a EN Search other than a general text search, which as we know searches Title, Tags, and Note body.

[gazumped 11,665]

Lifehacker's reputation being what it is,  that got repeated in a few places too - can't remember where I saw it,  but it was reposted on LinkedIn or some such with a "good suggestion here.." vibe.  I responded in my normal diplomatic way with a comment that it was a totally dumba** suggestion.  It's a fair point though that there are lots of users out there who aren't technical,  academic or research oriented and who don't know any basics on how to organise or to search for information.  Might explain the requests in the forums for advice on "how do I use Evernote to organise my record collection..."

 

There's a good blog post in there somewhere...

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I've largely begun to ignore LifeHacker due to the immense number of terrible posts just like this. 

 

That being said, I don't know if this is a user interface issue or a combination of user apathy and a lack of documentation. So many dead simple things from a UI standpoint end up being ignored by users anyway simply because they haven't taken the time to explore and learn about the software/hardware they are using (and typically paid for). 

 

I don't think there's anything terribly opaque about the current methods of filtering/searching by/for tag. I think people need to compelled to figure it out and the be smacked in the face with the resources to do so. 

[jefito 5,589]

LifeHacker was interesting and sometimes useful about four or five years ago. But it caused too much Inbox/RSS churn for too little actual, reliable content I could actually use. Expunged.

 

First rule of life-hacking (even that term seems cliché at this point): Unsubscribe from LifeHacker.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I've largely begun to ignore LifeHacker due to the immense number of terrible posts just like this. 

 

That being said, I don't know if this is a user interface issue or a combination of user apathy and a lack of documentation. So many dead simple things from a UI standpoint end up being ignored by users anyway simply because they haven't taken the time to explore and learn about the software/hardware they are using (and typically paid for). 

 

I don't think there's anything terribly opaque about the current methods of filtering/searching by/for tag. I think people need to compelled to figure it out and the be smacked in the face with the resources to do so.

Agreed.  Further evidence is the number of forum posts by new users when their question has been answered many times over in the forum already.  Admittedly, there may be things that are not easily figured out.  But IMO/IME, many things that users have problems with (in not just Evernote, but any software) is easily answered if they just put forth some effort to RTFM or even Google it. 

 

And yeah, IMO, Lifehacker is no longer the valuable resource it once was.