1958324 - Move or remove "search" from the sanitize dialog

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Data Sanitization, defect, P2)

Description

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

In the original version of the dialog, the form history checkbox was:

Form & search history

When they were separated, the new dialog said:

Clears site and download history, saved form info, and searches.

Then when form info was separated out, it was changed to:

Clear search, site, and download history.

and

Clears things like names, emails, and other items you enter in forms

In all of these contexts, there's really no explanation of what "search history/searches" means.

If it means URL bar searches, it would have been cleared when regular history was cleared.

But it was originally bundled with form history which seems to imply it's something else? Like maybe the history when you search on a web page?

Either way, since form history was separated again, and there is no separate preference to clear "search history", it should either be moved back to being associated with form history or be removed completely, as it is confusing.

Comment 1

[Emma Zühlcke [:emz]]

I'm in favor of just removing that part from the history category description.

Harshit, would you like to help find an owner for this bug? The change is copy only so it should be quite simple. If not please give the NI back to me and I'll look for somebody or take it myself. Thanks!

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

Set release status flags based on info from the regressing bug 1888466

Comment 3

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Would the new string just be "Clears site and download history"?

I have someone who can take this!

Comment 4

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

I think so.

Comment 5

[aoia7rz7l]

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #0)

In all of these contexts, there's really no explanation of what "search history/searches" means.

If it means URL bar searches, it would have been cleared when regular history was cleared.

But it was originally bundled with form history which seems to imply it's something else? Like maybe the history when you search on a web page?

Either way, since form history was separated again, and there is no separate preference to clear "search history", it should either be moved back to being associated with form history or be removed completely, as it is confusing.

FWIW the "context" is available at bug 323966 comment 5. And if you right-click on the search bar today you can still find a "Clear Search History" context menu item there...

Comment 6

[Sangie[:sangie50]]

Attachment: Bug 1958324 - Rephrase history clearing to not include search in sanitize dialog. r?hsohaney

Comment 7

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

And if you right-click on the search bar today you can still find a "Clear Search History" context menu item there...

That's a great catch! So it's specifically referring to the old search bar. That makes everything clear.

           let param = this.textbox.getAttribute("autocompletesearchparam");
            lazy.FormHistory.update({ op: "remove", fieldname: param });
            this.textbox.value = "";

and

autocompletesearchparam="searchbar-history"

So autocomplete for the searchbar (NOT the URL bar) is stored in form history under a specific parameter (searchbar-history)

So it was just a side effect that clearing form history cleared the search bar history because that's where it is stored. There was nothing explicitly done to clear search history.

Given that the search bar is not the default and most people would associate clearing "search" with clearing the URL bar, I am now even more sure we should remove the explicit callout of the word "search"

Comment 8

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/3dd198527ccb
Rephrase history clearing to not include search in sanitize dialog. r=hsohaney,fluent-reviewers,bolsson

Comment 9

[Cristina Horotan [:chorotan]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3dd198527ccb