1890079 - The yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable isn't very useful

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, task, P1)

Description

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

We may run another Nimbus experiment for Yelp with a lower min keyword length. Unfortunately just using a smaller value for the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable won't work because of the code here. It will take the max of the variable and the pref, and the pref's hardcoded default is 5. That means we can't use the variable to make the min length smaller than 5 without changing the pref's default value and/or that code, i.e., without making a change to Firefox, which defeats the purpose of using Nimbus in the first place.

I think this should work like weather's min keyword length. The Nimbus variable doesn't have a fallback, and we simply first check the pref and then the Nimbus variable.

Comment 1

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Attachment: Bug 1890079 - Make the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable more useful.

Comment 2

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/93d08e6b3d61
Make the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable more useful. r=daisuke

Comment 3

[Sandor Molnar[:smolnar]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/93d08e6b3d61

Comment 4

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Comment on attachment 9395371 [details]
Bug 1890079 - Make the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable more useful.

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: This is necessary for the second Yelp suggestions experiment that we need to run ASAP.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Setting the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable to different values should work as expected. It should set the character threshold for triggering Yelp suggestions.
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): Small patch that only affects Yelp suggestions, which are disabled by default. Has thorough tests.
• String changes made/needed:
• Is Android affected?: No

Comment 5

[Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA]

I have verified this issue on the latest Firefox Nightly 126.0a1 (Build ID: 20240410094541) on Windows 10 x64, Ubuntu 20.04 x64, and macOS 12.6.1.

• I cloned a stage recipe similar to the one that is already live and set the yelpMinKeywordLength variable from the branches configuration to “2” and “3” values.
• The Yelp results are displayed once 2 or 3 characters of any subject that would trigger a Yelp suggestion are typed in the Address Bar.
• However, please note that the previous rule where a pre-modifier is typed before the subject (so the entire search string is at least 5 characters where the subject is at least 2) is still applied (e.g. “best ra”). Is this condition expected to remain the same despite changing the yelpMinKeywordLength variable to a value smaller than 5?

@Drew, if you think we need to cover anything else with this change, or if you have a particular value for the variable that needs to be verified, please let us know.

Comment 6

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Thanks Carmen!

(In reply to Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA from comment #5)

• However, please note that the previous rule where a pre-modifier is typed before the subject (so the entire search string is at least 5 characters where the subject is at least 2) is still applied (e.g. “best ra”). Is this condition expected to remain the same despite changing the yelpMinKeywordLength variable to a value smaller than 5?

That's right, when a pre-modifier is typed, the expected logic to trigger a suggestion is:

• The entire search string must be at least yelpMinKeywordLength long, and
• At least two characters from the subject must be typed.

There are no pre-modifiers shorter than 4 characters, so the shortest search string that can trigger a suggestion and contain a pre-modifier is 4 + 1 (for the space) + 2 = 7 characters, even when yelpMinKeywordLength is smaller than 7.

@Drew, if you think we need to cover anything else with this change, or if you have a particular value for the variable that needs to be verified, please let us know.

We should be good, thanks!

Comment 7

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Comment on attachment 9395371 [details]
Bug 1890079 - Make the yelpMinKeywordLength Nimbus variable more useful.

Approved for 125.0.2.

Comment 8

[Pulsebot]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/c5ee44e41355

Comment 9

[Carmen Fat [:cfat] - Ecosystem QA]

We have verified this issue on Firefox Release 125.0.2 (Build ID: 20240419144423) on Windows 10 x64, Linux Mint 20.1 x64, and macOS 14.3.

• We used the production recipe where the branch configuration set the yelpMinKeywordLength variable to the value of 3.
• The Yelp suggestions are displayed once at least 3 characters of any subject that would trigger a Yelp result are typed in the Address Bar.