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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Search dialog vs. search bar
From:       Thomas Zander <zander32 () gmail ! com>
Date:       2005-02-16 9:35:22
Message-ID: ed64b31a05021601354f9a3ca9 () mail ! gmail ! com
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On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:05:19 +0100, Luciano Montanaro
<mikelima@cirulla.net> wrote:
> El Martes 15 Febrero 2005 19:51, Jason Keirstead escribió:
> > On Tuesday 15 February 2005 2:33 pm, Luciano Montanaro wrote:
> > > Now I have fould out that Firefox too has this functionality, and does
> > > indeed work this way. The toolbar also has some additional fields, just
> > > like a linearized search dialog.
> >
> > The search bar in Firefox has a number of large, glaring problems.
> >
> > - It is at the bottom of the screen rather than the top. This is not so
> > bad, once you are usaed to it. but if this is the first time you have
> > ever searched in this browser, and you are expecting CTRL+F or Edit->Find
> > to bring up a search dialog, it is a *bad* place for it to be. The first
> > time the introduced this new behaviour, it took me probably 2 minutes to
> > figure out what was going on (I did not see the box at all ).
> 
> This may be a problem at first...
> I'm so used to look at the bottom of the screen in my shell that it's not
> really a problem for me. However:
> - People are adaptable, and this can be learned. How much did it take to get
>   used to that? After the first period of puzzlement, did you manage to use
>   it?
> - It does not have to be at the bottom. I think it's more practical to have
>   it there anyway, since then, there is no need to make space for the bar at
>   the top of the window, but experimenting with alternative placements can
>   be done.
> - Currently the quicksearch is even less discoverable. So, the search bar
>   would be useful at least to improve it alone. But then, I would rather use
>   the same interface to searching everywhere.

You are trying to solve a couple of problems with one unified solution that
a) are not problems individually
b) are seperate by (usability) design for a good reason.

Let me explain;
the search dialog is for most users and has good enough usability on
its own.  The '/' search is a different interface to the same concepts
for other users. Users that are used to working like that.
These two different interfaces don't collide in usage and don't make
the usability of one of these groups worse.
In other words; there is no problem on the usability front due to the
two different interfaces and they are actually 2 distinct features,
for different users.

I think its the developer in you, the developer that wants to reduct
code duplication and wants to merge them.  In this case I don't think
you are going to do the users a favor.

Hope you understand my points!

Keep up the good work.
-- 
Thomas Zander
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