Most people do not intuitively understand the difference between "Go" and "Search".
Using a design with one button and a checkbox "[x] try exact match" is probably
a better idea.
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
Platform: PC
Eloquence | |
Sep 26 2004, 6:22 AM |
F1309: gobutton-new.png | |
Nov 21 2014, 6:56 PM |
Most people do not intuitively understand the difference between "Go" and "Search".
Using a design with one button and a checkbox "[x] try exact match" is probably
a better idea.
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
Platform: PC
Status | Subtype | Assigned | Task | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Declined | None | T21484 Provide clean interface for new-page template selection as on Wiktionary (was: Remove MediaWiki:noexactmatch usage.) | |||
Resolved | • TrevorParscal | T2577 Go and search button are confusing |
bugzilla_wikipedia_org.to.jamesd wrote:
Search doesn't and shouldn't try an exact match. Go and search are the correct
functions and descriptions.
I have not met a single person who understood the sense of either:
search [..user input..] [Go] [Search] Find: [..user input..] [Go] [Search]
They usually do after a while of experimenting. (Search disabled - please use Google - of course usually Google
does not find anything at all on small language wikis - tends to be another disruptive measure)
See also Bug# 5818
nd wrote:
The Usability Report done in http://openusability.org/reports/get_file.php?group_id=109&repid=69 also mentions
this (section 3.4.1)
I just wanted to suggest a similar feature for unifying "Go" and "Search":
articles for <search term>" prominently at the top of the page. This leads to the functionality delivered by
the full text search today.
Additional changes that may make search better usable:
default_ with a CSS style of display: none; power users may make this button visible again using a custon
stylesheet
(slightly) easier to understand
ayg wrote:
(In reply to comment #4)
- For power-users, still provide a button that has the functinality of the search button, but
_hide it by
default_ with a CSS style of display: none; power users may make this button visible again using a
custon
stylesheet
CSS shouldn't be used for things like this. What we could do is have a GET parameter that's not
actually accessible through the default interface, but you could use JavaScript to add a button that
would access it if you really wanted.
nslonim wrote:
Additional changes that would make search intuitive/less confusing:
It is not common practice in search nowadays to jumping to an exact match without requesting it explicitly.
r46042 introduced the new optional behavior to show the commonly used pair of "Go" button & "Advanced search" link by setting $wgUseTwoButtonsSearchForm = false; in LocalSettings.php.
This seems to be kinda done in the Vector:
http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2010/05/simplified-search-for-vector/
The problem is the search button does not search! This is a usability fail. The magnifying glass *always* mean "search".