007 Settings

ThredUP is a very cool concept that should be down my alley: online consignment thrift store with a super customizable search. The search is also its downfall for me though, since it presents a gargantuan left-aligned list to scroll through even though I only want to apply a limited set of parameters. For one thing, all sections are pre-expanded so I see customization options I don't even care about. Each section of parameters sometimes has its own scroll bar too! So much scrolling. The page also freezes up after you apply each parameter. My settings panel deals with the usability of this unwieldy facet search UI by locating all of these sections of preferences on a separate panel that you call up, kind of like a Control Panel on your desktop OS, and then revealing further sets of details when a shopper adds settings of a certain type. (This is where you can have a single list for just that section of preferences.) The database queries can run in the background layer so that the user experience of selecting parameters is uninterrupted even as time is given for the correct items to be pulled up in the search results.