Designing the user interface and functions of a search engine development tool

Search engine development tools have been made to allow users to build their own search engines. However, most of these tools have been designed for advanced computer users. Users without a full understanding of topics such as Web spidering would find these tools difficult to use due to different issues in terms of user interface, performance, and reliability. In view of these issues, we presented a tool called SpidersRUs to strike a balance between usability and functionality. On one hand, beginners should be able to operate the tool by using the basic functions needed to build a search engine. On the other, advanced users should be given the options to exert a higher level of customization while working on the tool. To study the interface design of SpidersRUs, we compared its usability and functionality from the users' perspective with two other development tools, namely Alkaline and Greenstone, in an evaluation study. Our study showed that SpidersRUs was preferred over the other two, particularly in areas of screen layout and sequence, terminology and system information, and learning to use the system.