search - Searching for items that include/exclude an attribute

I have a list of items. These items have 1 or more colors (black, red, green or any combination of the three).

The user wants to filter the item on color. For example, show only the items that:

• contain black


• contain black and red



• are black only


• are black and red only

My first thought was 3 checkboxes, one for each color. However, consider the scenario where a user checks black and red. It's not intuitive whether it will show items that are exactly black and red, or items that just contain both black and red. So not only are checkboxes not intuitive, they don't handle both cases.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Answer

I would stick with the three checkboxes to keep it simple but just be a bit intelligent about how you prioritise the results. If the user selects one colour (e.g. black) the system shows items with only black at the top of the results, followed by items with black and another colour, followed by items with black and two other colours. Then the user can check another colour to narrow the results further.

Heres an example ui below (I think something more graphical then just checkboxes reinforces the fact you are doing an AND):

I would also include a count of the results at the top of the page so it is clear that multiple selections produce a narrower range of results.