1800299 - Make one-off search modes & buttons for extensions that register omnibox keywords

Status: NEW

(WebExtensions :: Frontend, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

I think one of the things hindering the adoption of the omnibox API is that it doesn't support the same features or UI implementation that a search engine has. One issue is not being able to customize the keyword (bug 1375453), and there isn't another option to use the omnibox extension without typing the hard coded keyword.

One way to remedy that would be to make omnibox providers behave more like urlbar search modes. Now they're more like restriction tokens, which IIRC are planned to be removed? Entering the keyword could enable a visual search mode the way entering a search engine's keyword does (with a label showing next to the identity icon). Buttons similar to one-off search engine buttons could be added, right along with the normal engine buttons, that would enter this "search mode" to restrict results to those provided by the extension.

From the user's point of view, the technical differences between search engines and omnibox keywords are not necessarily important, and consolidating them in the UI would make them more user-friendly and attractive to developers. Technically they are very different, so I'm sure this is quite a major enhancement request. Still, hopefully we can get around to it at some point.