1458201 - add a help tip with search operators to the awesomebar footer

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Address Bar, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

Attachment: robc's awesome artwork

We have a wonderful help page that describes the feature but we don't show these modifiers anywhere in the UI so the feature is hidden to all but the most dedicated of users. 

Maybe we can add the modifiers to a little expanding help button in the footer space to the right of the search buttons. Each modifier could have a tooltip describing how it's used. 

    Add ^ to search for matches in your browsing history.
    Add * to search for matches in your bookmarks.
    Add + to search for matches in pages you've tagged.
    Add % to search for matches in your currently open tabs.
    Add ~ to search for matches in pages you've typed.
    Add # to search for matches in page titles.
    Add @ to search for matches in web addresses (URLs).
    Add $ to search for matches in suggestions.

Comment 1

[Rob Campbell [:robcee]]

Thanks Asa. I might also suggest adding a '?' operator to bring up search help from the location bar. Or an about:search-operators page that displays them in a content page. Separate bugs, to be sure.

Comment 2

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

We are planning to change some details about those shortcuts, for example changing the  suggestions char from "$" to "?" so it's more natural to type questions in the Address Bar.
Btw, I'm adding this to the bug tracking improvements to the restriction chars, even if it will need UX involvement first.

Comment 3

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

we'll probably also remove "~", because typed pages are a broken concept atm, so it has no value.

Comment 4

[Jens]

FWIW, I find the help hints as done by VSCode very good:

1. Placeholder hints at typing `?` to get help
2. If you type `?` then you are presented with more options like what #, > and so on do.

See screened GIF: https://imgur.com/a/DtdXeSY

I wish FF's awesomebar would do something similar. I've been using FF for 10 years but never knew these features and now once I learnt them I tend to forget them again and again as they are nowhere visible (except on some Support page...). So whenever I need this feature I tend to google the support page first which takes longer than just trying to search without the awesomebar modifiers/operators

Comment 5

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

you are right, I also like that hint. And if the user just continues typing after ? we could just do a normal search, so ? becomes both a restriction char if typed with other stuff, or hints if typed alone.
The problem is that vs code has a placeholder stating to type ? to get help, we already have a complex placeholder like "Search with Google or type an address" and I'm not sure it would be a good idea to extend it.

Clearly before doing something like this we should fix some of the other dependencies of bug 1386548, to make the feature work a bit better.

ni mverdi to evaluate this.

Comment 6

[Jens]

> we already have a complex placeholder like "Search with Google or type an address" and I'm not sure it would be a good idea to extend it.

Well, either extending to something like "Search with Google or type an address; or type ? for more options" which I agree might not be the best because too long maybe... 

But the awesomebar is huge. 

At the right hand side there could also be a (?) bubble which on click opens a popup like VSCode, but at the same time makes clear that typing ? has the same effect like clicking it. Next to the `>` it could be:
Like this: https://i.imgur.com/qFDz4b2.gifv

Well, get some UX exports on it and then maybe do some A/B testing on how much more the awesomebar operators are used :)

Comment 7

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

Thanks for the ideas and examples. Eric Pang and I are working on this as part of a larger overhaul. I'll comment or file other bugs when we have a proposal.

Comment 9

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

We added local one off buttons now, they show the restriction character too