513165 - remove "Web Search" item from Tools menu

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Menus, defect)

Description

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

There's a "Web Search" item in the Tools menu for the off chance that someone has removed the searchbar and closed the window and wants to use the hotkey when the application is focused.

It seems like we should be able to support the shortcut without having a menuItem, which isn't really all that useful (if someone's hidden the search bar, they're the type of user to also know keyboard shortcuts, and not likely to be the type of user to use menuItems)

KILL THEM

Comment 1

[Jesse Ruderman]

I think the menu item mostly exists so users can learn the keyboard shortcut to focus the search bar.

Comment 2

[Noah (NoahSUMO/SolidSnake) [:Noah]]

I've been waiting 4 years for this day. *tear falls*

I've hated that menu item everyday for 4 years and counting.

If beltzner hadn't requested it, it'd never get killed.

Comment 3

[Jo Hermans]

This would fix bug 242862

Comment 4

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to comment #1)
> I think the menu item mostly exists so users can learn the keyboard shortcut to
> focus the search bar.

That's correct.

Comment 5

[u88484]

(In reply to comment #4)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > I think the menu item mostly exists so users can learn the keyboard shortcut to
> > focus the search bar.
> That's correct.
Perhaps providing a help menu entry for keyboard shortcuts is a better menu entry alternative then one specifically in the tools menu thats only real purpose is to inform users about a single keyboard shortcut?  Having a menu entry just to inform users about a single keyboard shortcut just doesn't seem justifiable as reason to keep the "web search" entry in the tools menu.

Comment 6

[(no longer active)]

In bug 242862 comment 23, Alex says that removing this menu item should address the below problems:

> 1) supporting users who are visually impaired and are relying on a screen
> reader to interact with the browser
> 2) helping people discover the keyboard shortcut for performing a web search

Comment 7

[Alfred Kayser]

Just to remind everybody, other browsers don't have 'web search' in a menu. Just a search box (or even only in the url box itself).

Comment 8

[u88484]

Looks to not be used very often at all

http://blog.mozilla.com/metrics/2010/04/14/menu-item-usage-study-an-update-to-the-initial-analysis/

Comment 9

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to comment #8)
> Looks to not be used very often at all

I don't think anybody said it would be used very often. But see comment 1 and comment 6.

Comment 10

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

The search field has a nice tooltip, thus i think visually impaired users should be able to find it and have the tooltip read by the reader (MarcoZ could tell us more about discoverability of the search bar).
The shortcut could be added to the tooltip (bug 53309).

Comment 11

[Michael Kohler [:mkohler]]

Attachment: Patch v1 (trivial)

Comment 12

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 456128 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1 (trivial)

Similar to bug 513168...
The item is needed for exposing the keyboard shortcut.

Comment 13

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

Is this still part of the menus cleanup for Firefox 4?

Comment 14

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

The issue is making sure the menu items are available when the user has a screen reader activated.  I'm not sure how we detect that, but once we figure it out we can do a full clean up of the traditional menu bar.

Comment 16

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

It seems to be gone now.

Comment 17

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

(In reply to Tyler Downer [:Tyler] from comment #16)
> It seems to be gone now.

It's still there. On Windows, you have to use Alt+T to see it as the menuitem is only visible if the Tools menu was opened via keyboard.

Comment 18

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

Bug 492557 is planning on implementing a single source for teaching users the keyboard shortcuts for various parts of the user interface. When bug 492557 is fixed we should have a good replacement for this menuitem.

Comment 19

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 456128 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1 (trivial)

I'll land this along with bug 896918.

Comment 20

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/8e453333a110

Comment 21

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/8e453333a110