New Developments in Search - Guided Search (the new face of Faceted Classification)

It's great to see how assisted or guided search is entering into the mainstream attention of designers and developers not only on the web using tools like Endeca Search, but also in operating system design (see Apple shots below).

For those that aren't familiar with the concept, assisted or guided search is similar to faceted classification where the search interface displays a number of categories that your search results display in. Upon entering search terms, the result list is built and populated into predefined categories that are deemed desirable to the user.

Many companies are using this method of navigation as a secondary means of supporting way-finding through an enhanced search, such as MEC:

Others, like Shopping.com use tools like Endeca search to power their primary navigation experience for their users:

Within the operating system race, you'll see Apple has introduced the 'spotlight' search, Quick Search and Full Search into the OS - read on to see some screenshots...

Apple has also integrated the 'Quick Search':

and the Apple 'full search':