127525 - Find Dialog should look like in NS 4

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: UI Design, defect)

Description

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

The find dialog currently has a design that's nowhere else to be seen.
It would be good if it looked like it did in Netscape 4 and in most Windows
applications, because people are used to that look.

Comment 1

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

Attachment: screenshot

Comment 2

[Sebastian Späth]

Attachment: LOL, notepad find dialog

Are you sure that this design has never been seen before. Attached a
notepad.exe find dialog (WIn98). Although it is in German you will have to
admitt some slight similarities :-)

Although I agree that it does not deserve the Oscar for best dialog design

Comment 3

[Bamm Gabriana]

Attachment: I suggest it looks something like this.

Having the search button to the right of the search box is good interface
design. Check boxes should be "Match whole word only" and "Match case". Wrap
around should always be set and need not be a check box. "Search backwards"
should be handled by the direction radio buttons instead of being a check box.

Comment 4

[[not reading bugmail]]

adding 4xp, need to cc mpt on the UI probably.

Comment 5

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Am I missing something?  Is the original screenshot the current look or the
desired look?

Comment 6

[Bamm Gabriana]

To Sebastian and Boris, the original attachment of Christian Biesinger refers to
how it is proposed to look like (which I somewhat modified). To know how it
currently looks like, simply press Ctrl+F.

Comment 7

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Attachment: Netscape 4 Find dialog

We definitely don't want the NS4 look (see attachment).

Comment 8

[Bamm Gabriana]

Hi Boris, I believe your attachment is not from the Netscape Communicator 4.7x
series, to which we were referring to. It doesn't matter, though. The point is
the current dialog is ugly and unfamiliar and so we have posted our suggested look.

Comment 9

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

My attachment is from Netcape Communicator 4.76.  You guys are making some bad
assumptions about consistency of look here...

And wrap around should most definitely not always be set.  There are times when
one wants to know one has reached the end of the document and there are no more
hits.  This is, in fact, usually the case.

Comment 10

[Michael Hendy (Hendikins)]

Attachment: Konqueror's Find Dialog

Comment 11

[Michael Hendy (Hendikins)]

From the Macintosh

http://hosted.barrysworld.net/basiliskii/images/ie51macfind.jpg - IE 5.1
http://hosted.barrysworld.net/basiliskii/images/netscape4macfind.jpg - Netscape 4.79
http://hosted.barrysworld.net/basiliskii/images/opera5macfind.jpg - Opera 5.0

Comment 12

[Olav Vitters]

Attachment: Find dialog from Galeon

Comment 13

[Ere Maijala (slow)]

Attachment: IE 5.5 Find dialog

Comment 14

[Ere Maijala (slow)]

Attachment: IE 5.5 Find dialog w/ hebrew input locale enabled

Comment 15

[Peter Trudelle]

This is not the time to be considering such changes, they will have to wait
until a future release. It would be more helpful if everyone would instead
concentrate on signficiant, verifiable usability defects.   ->future, cc marlon

Comment 16

[Bamm Gabriana]

Hi Peter, I agree that there are a lot more significant things to do. However,
little changes that are easy to make and very noticeable and which have a
pleasing effect on the end user are always welcome.

To Boris, I realize we were probably using a different OS. The original post by
Christian looks exactly the same as the dialog box in my Communicator 4.79 for
Windows. Wrap around doesn't go around in circles indefinitely, it ends when you
have reached the point where you started in the document - thus ensuring the
entire page is searched.

But so as not to complicate things, I guess Wrap Around can be kept and made
into a separate check box instead. It can be placed under the Match case check box.

I'm sorry for bringing up such a trivial matter. I do find that the current
dialog box is not very pleasing to the eyes and I just thought it would be nice
if it were retouched.

Comment 17

[Peter Trudelle]

No, they most certainly are *not* always welcome, and the lockdown time before
major milestones is a prime example of when we should not be wasting any time
even considering them. There is no way to know that this would have a pleasing
effect on end users, and no time to correct it if it didn't.   All changes come
with risk of regression, and there is so little value in this that it is not
worth *any* risk of regression. 

Comment 18

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

sspäth: I meant: Mozilla's current design is nowhere to be seen, and it should
similar to the the screenshot I attached.

Comment 19

[Kathleen :Brade]

For the record, the current find dialog (iirc) looks more like it did in 4.x on
Macintosh or more similar to what would be found in other applications on a
Macintosh computer.

Comment 20

[Bamm Gabriana]

Then maybe Find should use the Find Common Dialog Box in Windows, and other OS's
if they have them. Moz already does this with the Open, Save and Print dialogs.
Isn't it the purpose of common dialogs that users will get used to the look and
feel of the dialog boxes and will not have to adjust per application?

Comment 21

[timeless]

No. afaik the common find dialog can't do what attachment 71239 [details] shows.  IMO we 
should (for mozilla1.2 or 1.4 or ...) make something that lets you do something 
like what that dialog lets you do. (ideally it'd be slightly more functional, 
but...)

Comment 22

[Bamm Gabriana]

The Windows API find dialog allows you to add options like what is shown in the
attachment you mentioned, meaning you can add checkboxes for wrap around or any
additional functionality. I really believe in consistency across applications
within a given platform.

Comment 23

[timeless]

ok, i'm sorry, wrong point.  the find dialog should look and feel like the rest 
of mozilla, and if i skin mozilla in a given fassion, say wood, then a win32api 
find dialog will be out of place.  mozilla decided to be skinable and that 
decission is not open to discussion now.

Comment 24

[Bamm Gabriana]

That's true. Unfortunately there is an apparent conflict between consistency
within Mozilla and consistency within the platform. Have you tried the Open and
Save As dialog boxes in Mozilla for Windows? Have you tried the Print dialog? It
is unfortunate that these dialog boxes do not look like the rest of Mozilla.
However, it is necessary - an important UI rule for cross platform apps is that
the most common tasks should work in the same way for all apps within the
platform. The same goes for the Find dialog box.

In short, consistency within an OS is more important than consistency within an
application, because it affects user's habits and patterns.

Comment 25

[Aaron Andersen]

Attachment: Find and replace dialogs from XulNote

Then there is the issue of consistency between the "find" dialog from the
entire app and the "find and replace" dialog from editor and mail compose.  

Attached is a screenshot of the find and replace dialog I wrote for XulNote
before bug 58850 prevented me from implementing it.  Both dialogs are actually
a single XUL window which hides the replace options for a find and shows them
for a replace.

This is also my idea of (basically) what the ultimate find dialog would look
like. :]

Comment 26

[Bamm Gabriana]

Aaron: I like your dialog. Maybe the close button should be higher when the
Replace and Replace All buttons are not visible?

Comment 27

[Andreas Kunz]

Related or dup: bug 7930

Comment 28

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Filter "spam" on "guifeatures-nobody-20080610".