Make the search default to 'BBC News & Sport', NOT 'All of the BBC'.

Most people I see using the BBC search box expect it to search all the entire wider web, not just the BBC. If they`re looking for a BBC program then it`d appear at the top of the list anyway.
Many people are not used to using the tabs (or the concept of them) along the top.
Searching the Web should be the default.

Searching the web should be the default? No way! I'm surprised that you say people expect it to do this, as I get the feeling that most people don't even know that there is a BBC web search function...

Yet many users of he BBC site see the search box and think it will search the wider web, another service provided by the BBC. Strange but true.

My last comment. I’m an IT trainer in a BBC learning centre and the BBC site is one we use a lot. After people get used to using Google etc my experience is that people assume that search boxes just search the Web, regardless of which site they’re on.

I think one of Martin’s comments from the bottom of his Blog page reinforces that. “On every news and media site where I have ever delved into the search logs, one word searches for country names are usually the most popular type of search amongst the top 100 search terms.”
My view is that people just aren’t very *sophisticated* when they search. I have seen many times people typing things like ‘cheap holiday’ or ‘bargain sofa’ into the BBC search box. (Yes, we do try and explain what the BBC search is mainly for, but they just expect every search box to – well – search the web.) And we just train a few; many, many more people must get to the BBC on their own, by one route or another, and then try and use the search facility.

I'm really astonished by Shefftim's comments - I'd love to see some research done on this, because I'm sure the majority of users would expect the search box on site x to search site x.

However, if Shefftim is correct, then why can't the BBC search box be made to remember that last time, I selected "BBC News & Sport" only, and default to that next time? It only needs a cookie.

Biddy, I feel the same. I work in web usability and certainly wouldn't expect this behavior to be common of the web-using population at large.

People tend to favour convention as their guide to using features on websites that are new to them, or which they don't use very regularly. Since the search box on most websites searches the site itself (rather than the web at large) I'd be willing to bet that, statistically speaking, users would expect the search box to search within the site, rather than the web as a whole.

However, I might expect someone like my grandfather, who's less familiar with web conventions, to see the word 'search' and associate it with searching the web. So if Shefftim was observing a 'sub-set' audience, it's conceivable that they may have had a similar perspective...

well, shefftim is about to be unhappy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinterne...