Anyways, I ran a few tests on several search engines, Araby, Ayna, Bing, Google, Yahoo/Maktoob. I came to a small conclusion;

Araby: it should be an all exclusive entertainment search engine if it wants to survive. Other than that it has no chance. A full on search engine was not made for Araby. And it’s time to start using a proper engine with a proper algorithm. Enlarge your video/image/audio index or Google will swallow the rest of what’s left of it. Some usability issues.

Ayna: it should be a an all exclusive local search engine if it wants to survive.Other than that it has no chance. A full on search engine was not made for it. And it needs to start using a proper engine with a proper algorithm. Better maps are needed ASAP or else Google will swallow the rest of what’s left of it. Major usability issues.

Bing: retire please (or start building proper options for the search engine, results wise it is O K)

Google: Usability, results, options, diversity, overall, still the king with no real threat at all (yet?). Downside, they have to plug the map/local search, saw a few shy attempts, they have to unleash all the data they are getting for FREE from US the USERS!

Yahoo/Maktoob: Considering it’s relatively new in the Arabic market, it is O K, results are O K, but lacks basic functionality just like Bing. Shape up fast or die. (Even though it’s the default search engine on Maktoob, it won’t help much, we saw the same failed attempt by Araby…)

Now the comparison chart, it’s not that extensive, but it gives you a pretty good idea of the major differences between the search engines. All answers marked NO didn’t work at the time of the writing of this post (Feb 8th, 2010) if it is working please take a screen-shot and get in contact so I can update.

The search term means “The Elements of Social Architecture” I wanted to try something “different” they all got the good results except Ayna, the first two results were totally irrelevant.

. Araby Ayna Bing Google Yahoo/Maktoob . Search Term: عناصر المعمارية الاجتماعية 3,239 Results 138 Results 4,050 Results 223,000 Results 26,700 Results . Results (1st) A List Apart النسخة العربية : عناصر المعمارية الاجتماعية عمارة – ويكيبيديا، الموسوعة الحرة A List Apart النسخة العربية : عناصر المعمارية الاجتماعية A List Apart النسخة العربية : عناصر المعمارية الاجتماعية A List Apart النسخة العربية : عناصر المعمارية الاجتماعية . Speed in seconds N/A 0.9154 N/A 0.9 0.26 . Cached No No Yes Yes No . Boolean searching Yes No Yes Yes Yes . Related Search Yes No No Yes No . Different Views No No No Yes (Related searches Wonder wheel Timeline) No . Search in results No No No Yes No . Limit by date No (advanced is down) Yes (limited though) No Yes (extensive) Yes (limited though) . Collections to search Web Audio Dictionary Songs Islam Forums Celebrities Web Images Video News Dictionary Blog Local Religion Web Web Images Videos News Blogs Updates Books Forums Social Web . Translate pages/sites No No No Yes No . Search in Results No No No Yes No . Advanced Results Sorting/Clustering No No No Yes No

Anyways I decided to go “smart” a bit and search for:

• “Weather Cairo/ احوال الطقس في القاهرة”. All engines failed (note that in English it works perfectly on Google and Bing)
• “Cafe in Dubai/مقهى في دبي “. All engines failed (again in English it shows Google maps with Local Business Results, I was expecting Ayna to show some results since they have maps in Arabic and boast about it)

The only “unusable” features that Araby and Ayna have is the Arabic keyboard (note the “unusable”) Google added transliteration service in their lab but it’s not as good as Yamli’s (it ROCKS!) and not available on the search engine directly…yet.

Anyways here are few screen-shots

I don’t really consider Yamli as being a search engine (calm down) it is a transliteration service, making it easy for users who do not type in Arabic or have an Arabic enabled keyboard to search using GOOGLE.

It is what Google (and ALL Arabic search engines) missed!

Yamli’s service is; useful, usable, desirable, accessible, credible, findable and valuable (honeycomb anyone?)

People need to innovate, all I see around the Arabic web are cheap imitations (except a few, ikbis for example) and this is where Yamli really sets the difference and demonstrates an originality in the thinking, concept and offering something that is missing.

Anyways off to the interface…

Nothing major in the interface, focus is on the search (of course), search button in the middle, tabs, easy and straight to the point.

One thing I didn’t get (maybe it’s just me) is what they mean by “…  and get all the results” that needs to be clarified or re-written. (all doesn’t refer to all categories…)

Yamli took the “smart Arabic keyboard” further and offered an editor for long texts (I have to send a few emails in Arabic and it would be a pain to type a whole email in the search box!)

Yamli saves the day (and time/frustration and a few curses)

What’s really interesting and shows that the folks behind Yamli are paying attention to small details is the way they notify you about the editor, you have the classic icon with a link to the editor, and the nice touch, the notification you get when you type a long query in the search box.

KABOOM! (do you want to write a longer text? use the Yamli Editor)

These are the kind of things that makes me smile as a UX geek, they are not only making things easier for the user but they are also promoting another service in a way. I heart Yamli for that!

That’s basically a quick review of the interface.

Unlike other search engines (Arabic of course) Yamli makes it easy for users to integrate its API on their website/forum/whatever with a step by step guide and very detailed explanation, it really is easy.

What really shows the extra care and that extra mile that makes the whole difference is that the “Yamlians” did their research and homework perfectly. Images are provided by Bing (better than Google’s), videos by Youtube, Web by Google, Wikipedia by Google (huh?) and best of all, images and videos are categorized. Kudos to the Yamlians!

Search results wise, can’t complain, it’s Google and Bing (for the images) and that beats any given Arabic search engine for the time being.

That’s about it for the search (yup I am just too lazy) as for the editor, it has the basic functions that should be there , save print copy clear, nothing fancy, straight to the point and it does what it’s supposed to do. My only recommendation would be hiding the instruction box automatically faster when the user starts typing in the editor.

There you have it folks, Yamli and its goodies, make sure you download the Firefox add-on.

A great search engine (Google), a powerful browser (Firefox), the magician (Yamli), Arabic is no longer a problem or a hurdle online.

My top wishlist, Arabic for Mac applications and mobile applications.

Links

• Yamli
• Google
• Bing
• Firefox
• Yamli’s Firefox add-on