User:Tom-/Usability/Why

 Please note: this isn't even near completion

Wikipedia Usability: Why?
I can sum it up in one sentence:  There is no point in making an encyclopedia if users cannot find information within it.

But I can find what I want!
Yes, so can I, most of the time.

I know the easiest way to find a piece of information is to type an article title into the search box, and normally it works.

However: it isn't self-evident. People also search for:


 * Questions ("What's the population of London?")
 * Specific information ("Population of London")
 * Information types ("Population data")

None of these queries brings up anything remotely useful in the top few results.

So what do we do?

 * 1) Build an amazing search engine
 * 2) Get people to search for article titles
 * 3) Help users find information without searching