A Search Form That Fitts

According to Fitt’s Law, The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target. In other words, the farther away the target is, the larger it must be to retain access speed (via). I think Microsoft’s Support site is the best place to illustrate my point.

As you head to the Microsoft Support site, you are presented with this search form (click the image for a bigger screenie):

In fact, with the browser window fully expanded, it’s even wider. Note how small the action button is (lower right corner) and how small it is given the long distance mouse cursor has to travel. Even given the normal mouse acceleration of an able person it’s difficult to hit it.

I think it would’ve been more sensible to

• make the search button much bigger and have it actually say Search; or
• rebuild the form so it’s not elastic. Otherwise dropdowns become ridiculously long. Having a compact form would allow placing the search button closer and keeping it reasonably small.