204691 - Optional "Search" Button should be added to toolbar since "Go" cannot start searches

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Toolbars and Customization, enhancement)

Description

[Josh]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030424 Mozilla Firebird/0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030424 Mozilla Firebird/0.6

For UI consistency I think that Firebird should have a "Search" button available
for the search bar. It the "Go" button apparently cannot be used to start
searches, and searching is no longer available in the addressbar's dropdown
menu, so the ONLY way to start a search is with the enter key.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.

Comment 1

[noririty]

-> RFE
-> WONTFIX

This sort of things should be done by extension.
http://texturizer.net/firebird/extensions.html#Trivial

Comment 2

[Erik]

*** Bug 207744 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 3

[Simon Paquet [:sipaq]]

Taking QA Contact

Comment 4

[Brant Gurganus]

VERIFYING obvious WONTFIX bugs.  Filter on firebirdWontFix to filter these bugs.
 I skipped a few that I'm unsure about from their summary and will manually go
through them.

Comment 5

[R.K.Aa.]

To improve the USABILITY of the search field, there should be some way to
perform the search without being forced to use the keyboard. A GO button is an
absolute requirement and should NPT rely on an extention. This is a general
usability issue. I'm often AFK but WITH a pointing device connected. How on
earth do I perform a search in Firefox then? The lack of a GO button for
searches makes Firefox unfit to use for presentations, for instance. 

Separating the URLbar and search feature was a big step backwards in the first
place, compared to how easily this is done in the Mozilla suite browser. Ï lost
history, GO  button and somewhat related: autocomplete is broken as well.

Reopening this one for reconsideration. I suggest the component owner decide
whether it's still a nofix or not, or whether there's hope for some kind of
solution.

Comment 6

[R.K.Aa.]

typos..typos..  "NPT" was supposed to read "NOT". 

NOT having some means of triggering a search with the mouse - in other words
without using the keyboard - is pretty bad. An accessibility issue as well as a
major flaw, IMO.  Saying it requires an extention makes as much sense as making
 keyboards with optional enter keys. Not a very good idea.

It should be possible to handle a paste into search field and perform the search
with just a pointing device - without being forced to use a keyboard as well.

Comment 7

[Bill Mason]

*** Bug 275920 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

*** Bug 277201 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 9

[Andreas B. Wagner]

If a go button is placed to the right of the search bar it should fire the
search bar. If a go button is placed to the right of the url bar it should fire
the url. The customize toolbar panel should allow for the placement of 2 go buttons.

Comment 10

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

IMHO thats better to have-e Go button customized for search.  I mean this should
have a search-like icon.

Comment 11

[R.K.Aa.]

Why clutter the browser with two edit-fields in the first place? The urlbar with
its search features in Mozilla is far superior to the Fireforx mess. Please
consider this feature from a user standpoint, not as a coder. The overview and
usability is far better in Mozilla. Please bring back the unified urlbar/search.
The Firevfox version of them is one of the reasons i can't use Firefox.

Comment 12

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

Actually you're right; "two text fields" is not a good way to get users idea.  I
like the old one too.  But I think the main idea was that let user select search
engine when need to search.  And also it can reserve the search phrase for
another search.  But in old style, your search phrase went lost when you fire
the search.

Solution 1:  Change the search field to a selectable list with-out any text
input, and the last search engine as default.  So you can just click there to
search, or select an engine from it's list.  Here we'll have an small problem
yet.  What's the default action for the "Enter" key?  We can set the default
action to "Go", expect when user push Ctrl+K that "Search" will be the action of
pressing Enter.

Solution 2:  Adding a "Seach" key beside the field, or change the icon to a
list-key (like back and forward) and move that to right of the field.

I like the last one, because I use Ctrl+K for searchin in mails in Thunderbird too.

Comment 13

[R.K.Aa.]

if you want to re-use them, activate internet keywords and the searh words will
land in urlbar hitory (Mozilla)

Comment 14

[Jo Hermans]

*** Bug 294052 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 15

[Flaky Jake]

[url=http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=95]Search Button 0.4.9[/url]

Comment 16

[Martijn Wargers (dead)]

Well, current nightlies have a search button now, but I don't really like the appearance.

Comment 17

[eXecuTe]

I don't like the appearance, too. I would move the search engine icon onto the search button and replace the current ugly search icon. This would also save space in the toolbar.

Comment 18

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

Whether or not I like it, and whether or not it meets every bit of driveby UI over the last 3.5 years, this bug was about having a way to start a searchbar search without using the enter key, which we now have.