In MetaLocator interfaces, when users click the main Search button the entire page refreshes to display the search results. This is a typical, albeit dated, user experience (UX) where a form is submitted, and then results are presented in response.

Going forward MetaLocator will no long require this refresh - also known as a postback - in order to display results.

Interfaces using Live Search have always used this method for category searches. This change extends the improved behavior to the location search.

This will result in a faster and more improved user experience with less visual re-painting and flicker.

This will only apply to users using our Live Search option as shown below:

This will decrease the total number of "page views" recorded by analytics software since there will not be a second page view recorded when the search is performed. This will not decrease the number of Search Events or Postal Code events (or any event).

To be clear, this change will not correspond to any real or decreased utilization of the locator, however; if page views are a metric used in evaluation and reporting, prepare for those numbers to decrease proportional to the number of users that actually click the submit button click to search.

For those customers using Google Maps and Mapbox APIs this should reduce the number of paid API calls incurred by the page refresh, resulting in a reduced cost.

The differences are very subtle, but visible to the end user. This video compares the two experiences, first showing the old UX, and then the new.