---
title: "Why Glossaries Help Users Find Information"
date: 2012-08-09
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2012/08/09/why-glossaries-help-users-find-information/
---
# Why Glossaries Help Users Find Information
In *Designing Web Navigation*, James Kalbach explains the shortcomings of search:

> Search is certainly an efficient way to get to content. We search on the Web all the time. But keyword searching is effective only if the item being sought is known in advance. It assumes that people will be able to accurately and completely express their information needs as a query. However, this may not always be the case.

In other words, unless you know the terms you're looking for, and can articulate them correctly, it will be hard to find them through search.

In some cases, the term is not a mystery. If you've got a problem with tabs in your browser, for example, you can be fairly confident that the term "tabs," which is often the term used to describe the little rounded file folder handles showing multiple windows in your browser, is the right one to use. But there are many cases where the right term is a matter of choice by the project team.

For example, I recently worked on an application where we argued about what to call a feature that set the maximum visibility setting for one's profile information. Some wanted to call it "maximum privacy limit," others "overall visibility setting," or "privacy threshold," or "household visibility limit." I argued that "limit" was too technical. And so on. You know the scenario. Here's what that term ended up looking like in the interface:

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/Householdview-editmode5001.png)](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/2012/06/Householdview-editmode5001.png)

If you wanted to set the maximum visibility across all members in your family, would you think to search on "household visibility limit"? I can imagine a variety of searches related to this concept, all equally valid.