1937021 - Selecting "search with X" contextual search action result will show a blank urlbar

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1938036

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect, P2)

Description

[Adrian Florinescu [:aflorinescu]]

Found in

• Nightly 135.0a1;

Affected versions

• Nightly 134.0a1;
• Nightly 135.0a1;

Tested platforms

• Affected platforms: Windows 11, Mac 13, Ubuntu 24

Steps to reproduce

1. Navigate to any search page: youtube.com, amazon.com (any non-default engine)
2. Input a string in the address bar
3. Press tab to use the contextual search mode
   3'. Use mouse click instead of tab to use the contextual search mode.

Expected result
3. Search mode is entered with search term, pressing enter will perform the search with the search term
3'. In this case it directly performs the search

Actual result
3. Search input is hidden, search mode entered, pressing enter will perform the search with the search term
3'. In this case it directly performs the search

Regression range

• N/A

Note

• Please note that for tab keyword in case of contextual search mode on a non-default engine, atm there is no search mode chicklet, so not entirely sure what the expected action should be in that case
• For default engines, the contextual search mode behaves differently, deleting the search term - will log separate issue:

Comment 1

[Chris Bellini (:cbellini)]

We should enter search mode with the search string that was entered.

Comment 2

[Adrian Florinescu [:aflorinescu]]

(In reply to Chris Bellini (:cbellini) from comment #1)

We should enter search mode with the search string that was entered.

In this case, we can't enter search mode, because we don't provide search mode for engines that are not in the default list: e.g. youtube.com will not have a search mode if its not on the default engine list. I'm not entirely sure what we should do here though.

Comment 3

[Adrian Florinescu [:aflorinescu]]

(In reply to Adrian Florinescu [:aflorinescu] from comment #2)

(In reply to Chris Bellini (:cbellini) from comment #1)

We should enter search mode with the search string that was entered.

In this case, we can't enter search mode, because we don't provide search mode for engines that are not in the default list: e.g. youtube.com will not have a search mode if its not on the default engine list. I'm not entirely sure what we should do here though.

Josh, thoughts about the expected behavior in this case here?

Comment 4

[Josh Berman]

I think this comes down to how we define search mode so let's step back from that term a little.

When the user

1. Navigates to youtube
2. enters a search query into the addressbar
3. See's and clicks on the contextual "search with youtube" control

The question is whether we immediately commit the search as is with the term as written in the URLbar or display a search mode chip beside the term in the addressbar.

Here, I'd rely on a commonly used UX heuristic

User Control and Freedom
When it's easy for people to back out of a process or undo an action, it fosters a sense of freedom and confidence.

Refraining from immediately committing the search is the easiest thing for a user to back out of, so that would be my recommendation. This is also in line with how search engines accessed from the unified search button work. If I remember correctly, we won't be able to provide any auto-complete suggestions, but we can still display the heuristic and then any matching terms in Fx Suggest.

In short, I would lean in agreement with the report here

Expected result
3. Search mode is entered with search term, pressing enter will perform the search with the search term

Comment 5

[Josh Berman]

And by search mode I mean, display the chip in the addressbar beside the term, display the heuristic result, and on enter commit the search.

Comment 6

[Dale Harvey (:daleharvey)]

I think there is a bit of confusion around this, we cannot enter search mode for an engine that has not been installed, what the urlbar does is as expected after the discussions we had around the experience for uninstalled engines (first 2 times perform search, prompt to install on second search).

The issue is that when the action is selected the urlbar becomes blank, whereas when selecting any other result that is to perform a search will show the search term in the urlbar

Comment 7

[Dale Harvey (:daleharvey)]

And the fix for 1938036 also fixes this issue.