Closed Bug 237948 Opened 20 years ago Closed 20 years ago

wrap should be off by default in the find toolbar

Categories

(Firefox :: Menus, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Menus
Platform:
x86
Linux
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 279014

People

(Reporter: marcjw53, Assigned: bugzilla)

Details

(Whiteboard: DUPEME) 

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040315 Firefox/0.8.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040315 Firefox/0.8.0+

Edit -> Find in this page -> Wrap

Is now showing selected (on) by default.  In all previous versions this was off
by default iirc.  Off is the correct default, imho.  At the very least it should
be configurable.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.
Whiteboard: DUPEME
Wrap should be on by default, but there should be a message telling you when you
reach the end of the document.  The old behavior of saying "The text you entered
was not found" was horrible because it was so misleading (especially when the
search didn't start from the top), but the new behavior of silently wrapping is
also confusing because you don't immediately realize that you're seeing an
instance you've already seen.
I disagree.  When the default behavior in other browsers is off, follow the de
facto standard in lieu of a compelling reason.

Which other browsers are you thinking of? Opera does wrap around, and there's
nothing in the dialog to stop it. IE doesn't wrap, and there's no way of making
it do so, AFAICS. Netscape 4.x does. Mozilla doesn't. I'm not seeing a defacto
standard there.

FWIW, I like it prefer it to wrap, although having got used to not wrapping in
some browsers, I tend to jump to the top before I start.
Lessee here...  Between IE and Mozilla there's probably 99%+ market share and
neither of those has word wrap on by default but yet you don't see a de facto
standard.

Ok then, there's nothing else I could possibly say to that.

You're right, that was a stupid argument to make, sorry. A better point might be
that Firefox doesn't necessarily follow the route chosen by other browsers -
can't be better if you copy something else all of the time. The question is what
is best - assuming this change was made deliberately, I guess the Firefox
developers think the new default is better.
Whatever the default setting is, there should at least be an
about:config/prefs.js/user.js way of changing the setting.
I disagree.  With a better default, there would be no need for a pref or even a
checkbox.

The default should be "Wrap but tell me".  "Wrap but tell me" is strictly better
than "Don't wrap" (since you'd get a dialog anyway) and usually better than "Wrap".
You can have both with a dialog that says "Going to wrap now !" with an "Ok" and
"Cancel" button. "Ok" or Enter closes the dialog and wraps the search while
"Cancel" or Escape closes the dialog and stays wherever you are on the page.

I agree that wrapping silently is a bug.
@ Jesse Ruderman

That's going to come down to someone's opinion of what a "better default" is,
and in this case I reckon there are significant numbers of people with either
opinion of what the default should be.

There is a solution to this issue outlined in the thread
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=53163&highlight=
that should make everyone happy.  At least it made me happy.  The only downside
is that implementing this fix is fairly complicated.  Hopefully this gets
addressed in a newer release.
While the solution in that thread makes Firefox remember the current state of
the "Wrap" checkbox (it's not really a default), and is actually quite easy to
implement, it doesn't address Jesse's concern that there should be some kind of
notification when the search wraps. But in any case, persisting the "checked"
setting is a really simple fix, it should be possible to include that in the
next release.
Mike Coppins: I can understand people wanting a checkbox if the options are
"Wrap" and "Don't wrap", because both options suck but in different ways.  But
can you explain why someone would (sometimes or always) want "Wrap" OR "Don't
wrap" if the default were "Wrap but tell me"?
What does "wrap but tell me" mean?
In the Windows and Linux programs I tested, there were two types of "Wrap but
tell me" behaviors.  "Wrap but tell me with a dialog" is similar to Firefox's
"Don't wrap" option, while "Wrap but tell me with a status bar message" is
similar to Firefox's "Wrap" option.

1. Extra dialog 
(Microsoft Wordpad in WinXP, Microsoft Word 2002)

  * Pressing "Find Next" when there are no more matches results in a secondary
dialog saying "[App name] has finished searching the document".

  * Pressing "Find Next" after that continues searching from the starting point
rather than just showing the same dialog again.

  * Word and Wordpad consider the search to have wrapped when it reaches the
starting point, not when it reaches the end of the document.  (This is important
because it prevents "Finished searching" from appearing before you see all
instances of the search phrase.  An alternative solution, which IE seems to use,
is to always start searching from the top of the page.)

  * There is an option in Word (but not in Wordpad) that shows *another*
secondary dialog:  "Word has reached the end of the document. Do you want to
continue searching at the beginning".  That dialog only appears if you use
non-default settings *and* start the search in the middle of the document.

2. Status bar message
(vim 6.2, Win32Pad 1.4.4)

  * Says "Search hit bottom, continuing at top" or "Search wrapped" as a status
bar message that doesn't require a response.  Highlights the first instance at
the same time.

I take back what I said earlier.  While "Wrap but tell me with a dialog" is
strictly better than "Don't wrap", and "Wrap but tell me with a status bar
message" is strictly better than "Wrap", there's room for debate about whether
the extra dialog or the status bar message is better.  There might even be some
way to combine the strengths of the two methods.  I don't think the difference
warrants a UI pref, though.
I agree that something needs to be done about the wrap behavior. I don't really
care whether wrap or no wrap is default, but the fact that there's currently a)
no way to change that default and b) no indication when wrapping has occurred
bothers me. I would be fine with a "wrap but tell me" option, a "remember my
preference" option, a setting to select wrap or no wrap in the about:config, or
basically just about anything except what FF does right now.
The new find toolbar doesn't have a wrap option at all, is this bug still valid?
(In reply to comment #16)
> The new find toolbar doesn't have a wrap option at all, is this bug still valid?

It's still there on my Linux 9.1 Firefox.

> It's still there on my Linux 9.1 Firefox.
That's because the find toolbar is only in the latest nightlies.

What is the behaviour of the new toolbar?
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Summary: wrap should be off by default in text search → wrap should be off by default in the find toolbar
continuing comment 14 with another behaviour variant seen in the wild:

3. Status bar message with wrap confirmation by Next
(XEmacs 21.4.15 and kin on sundry platforms)
  * "Find Next" (C-s) when there are no more matches results in a minibuffer
    message Failing I-search: <string>; next "Find Next" (C-s) press wraps and
    shows message Wrapped I-search: <string>.

I think this behaviour is superior to all of the above, since it
  - enables the user to find the last match in the document, because it does
    stop at last match;
  - requires no pref (I for one don't have a preferred mode of operation so a
    pref would have the wrong setting half the time anyway);
  - requires no checkbox (ui that would not fit well on find bar, a checkbox is
    a fumbly mousey thing to poke at anyway, see previous and last point);
  - requires no dialog (sort of slow);
  - allows easy wrapping without moving fingers ;)
I know this is duping old to new, but I didn't see this one.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 279014 ***
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 20 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
I would have marked this as WONTFIX or as a dup of bug 266338, Make the "Reached
end of page, continued from top" message more visible.
QA Contact: bugzilla → menus
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