867353 - Advanced search missing

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 572453

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Search, defect)

Description

[Palmer Eldritch]

Well every time I search for addons in mozilla (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=&appver=20.0&platform=windows) I spent some time fumbling through menus trying :

1. to enforce AND search instead of OR search (why on _earth_ would anyone use OR search ?)
2. Display 100 results per page
3. COMPLETELY filter out results that do not apply to my version of Browser
4. search _only_ in description/comments/title
5. search for exact phrases
6. etc

The bitter truth is - There are no such options !

Is it just me or the addon search is _in the Middle Ages_ ? Addons being the primary force behind FF at that

Am I missing some button - which should be right by the search box ? Am I the only one annoyed (_to no end_) by the primitive search system ?

PS : copy pasted this from the questions site - I left the frustrated tone (almost) intact - it is really frustrating
You should trust your users in being able to articulate a search query ! At least provide operators (such as "exact phrase", OR, AND, etc) - somewhere _obvious_
And keep in mind that providing no advanced search options - even to registered users - is a major usability issue - given that most (all) sites do - and the user is bound to search for err advanced search

Consider opening more bugs for 1,2,... requests - in particular the "customize number of results per page" should go into its own buggy

Thanks

Comment 1

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Hi, Thanks for the bug.  Our current search functionality was long debated (in 2010, maybe?) and eventually settled on as a compromise which provided the best balance of simplicity, usability, and maintainability.  It's fair to revisit the conversation periodically (you're not the only one which would like some changes, for what it's worth).

The core issue it comes down to is that we need a product manager and a user research group to define a spec for the behavior and functionality of the search and then we can implement that, rather than one off bugs which is how we've operated in the past.

The bug for that spec is bug 572453 and I'm marking this bug as a duplicate of it.  When the conversation about defining the spec starts I hope you'll be involved but I can't give you a date right now.