Last modified: 2009-03-26 11:37:05 UTC
When search results are returned, or Special:Search accessed, there is a search box at the top of the page, and a second search box at the bottom of the page. Highly confusing to the average user, these are different functions, and give completely different results (often blank for the top search box. Possibly this is because the top box doesn't search all namespaces. or else.. I'm not sure why. It's not at all clear to the average user that the top box is a "simple search" of some kind, with an "advanced search" giving different and thorough results to be found right at the end of the page. (And especially as it would be good to encourage people to use the search functionality more.) It's also annoying for experienced users to remember that for many searches, the top box is useless and to skip to the end of the page to perform searching. REQUESTED CHANGE: Since the only interface difference is the namespace checkboxes, and I'd guess that namespaces tend to be something that only editing (rather than reading) users have a large wish to specify, then some suggestions. Choose any/all of these :) 1/ One box only, top of page, with "advanced search" link next to the search box. 2/ two boxes but they both search the same spaces and return the same results for a given search expression. 3/ Preferences option to allow logged-in users to "always use advanced search". 4/ Clickable option "show namespaces" / "show advanced options". 5/ &advanced or &mode=advanced option on the URL.
This is fixed in the "new search interface" which is still turned off on WMF wikis. to try it out, set $wgUseOldSearchUI = false
