Offer guidance to users on the Global Search empty and no result states
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Problem to solve
When a user executes a search and it comes back with no results, we could do a better job of offering up suggestions or guidance to help them find what they are looking for or understand why some searches may fail. Also, when a user navigates to the Global Search page without first performing a search, they are presented with a mostly blank page. This space could also be better utilized to provide some search tips.
This came up as a experience improvement recommendation in both a competitive evaluation (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/competitor-evaluations/-/issues/5#insights-with-issue-links) as well as on a recent UX Scorecard (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-design/-/issues/1679).
current states
| no results | empty state |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Proposal
Utilize the global search results area better in situations of no results and empty states to offer search suggestions and guidance to users.
Things to consider
- Drawing more attention to any scopes / filters in place
- Making it easier to expand their scope or clear filters
- Determining if there are problems we can detect within their query to provide more targeted guidance
- Are there things we can automatically correct, or do things like "Did you mean..."
- Linking to specific documentation that will help with issues (limitations, syntax, etc)
Reach
Impact
Confidence
Effort
Definition of Done
- [ ] The problem is well understood by the PM to have an understanding summarized in a RICE score
- [ ] The problem is well understood by the PM to decide if they want to move forward with this idea or drop it
- [ ] The problem is well described and detailed with necessary requirements for product design to understand the problem
- [ ] The problem is well described and detailed with necessary requirements for engineering to understand the problem