I read in Techcrunch about Yahoo!’s new improvements to search results. What caught my attention was how elegant the search suggestion widget operates. Unlike other search suggestion sites which annoyingly get in the way all the time with their smarts, this one senses hesitation in the search box and only then displays the results–that way it doesn’t get in the way. Also it correctly interprets arrow keys (down moves into the related search box widget). This kind of interaction design is not flashy but it is quite effective, meets the needs of the user and I think is a sign of where the web is going.
I give our yodeling friends up the peninsula a lot of credit for getting this one so right. While I’m an avid Google search user these improvements just might lure as a customer.