Use faceted search before failure, when users need structured narrowing.
Use faceted search before failure, when users need structured narrowing.
Practice the judgment: Imagine this situation: A person reaches a result and needs a clear route to continue. Write the person's goal, choose one of these patterns, and show the state that helps the person continue. Use the decision rules and source trail below to explain your choice.
Review the underlying principle →| Dimension | Faceted search | No-results recovery |
|---|---|---|
| UI or UX | UI + UX - Filter and results exploration surface | UI + UX - Search recovery state |
| UI guidance | Keep selected facets visible while results update. | Render zero-result copy, active criteria, remove-filter actions, and alternative suggestions. |
| UX guidance | Support recovery when filter combinations become too restrictive. | Help users recover when their own search or filters excluded all results. |
| Good UI | Facet groups, counts, selected chips, result count, and clear controls are visually grouped. | Zero-result state shows query/filters, result count, and clear or broaden actions. |
| Bad UI | Facet panel overwhelms the results with dense unchecked options. | Huge empty state that hides active filters. |
| Good UX | Users can add, remove, combine, and clear facets while understanding result count changes. | Users can remove one filter, clear all, edit query, or try suggested alternatives. |
| Bad UX | Changing filters resets unrelated query or sort silently. | Telling users nothing exists when filters caused the state. |
| Best fit | The data set has structured attributes users understand. | Search, browse, or filter controls can produce an empty result set. |
| Avoid when | The result set is small enough that filtering adds complexity. | The state is caused by an error rather than valid empty results. |
| Required state | Unfiltered state with result count and available facets. | Zero-result state that preserves the user's criteria. |
| Accessibility burden | Filter groups need clear labels and state. | Announce result-count changes where search results update dynamically. |
| Common misuse | Using internal database labels as facets. | Resetting all criteria automatically. |