Last modified: 2011-01-25 00:33:13 UTC
Most people do not intuitively understand the difference between "Go" and "Search". Using a design with one button and a checkbox "[x] try exact match" is probably a better idea.
Created attachment 51 [details] mock-up of button/checkbox combo
Search doesn't and shouldn't try an exact match. Go and search are the correct functions and descriptions.
I have not met a single person who understood the sense of either: search [..user input..] [Go] [Search] Find: [..user input..] [Go] [Search] They usually do after a while of experimenting. (Search disabled - please use Google - of course usually Google does not find anything at all on small language wikis - tends to be another disruptive measure) See also Bug# 5818
The Usability Report done in http://openusability.org/reports/get_file.php?group_id=109&repid=69 also mentions this (section 3.4.1) I just wanted to suggest a similar feature for unifying "Go" and "Search": * Go to an article if there exists one for the search term. In that case, be sure to place a link "search all articles for <search term>" prominently at the top of the page. This leads to the functionality delivered by the full text search today. * If there was no article found for the search term, deliver the results of a full text search directly. Additional changes that may make search better usable: * For power-users, still provide a button that has the functinality of the search button, but _hide it by default_ with a CSS style of display: none; power users may make this button visible again using a custon stylesheet * Maybe re-label the combined "Go/Search" button with "Find". According to usability studies, this word is (slightly) easier to understand
(In reply to comment #4) > * For power-users, still provide a button that has the functinality of the search button, but _hide it by > default_ with a CSS style of display: none; power users may make this button visible again using a custon > stylesheet CSS shouldn't be used for things like this. What we could do is have a GET parameter that's not actually accessible through the default interface, but you could use JavaScript to add a button that would access it if you really wanted.
Additional changes that would make search intuitive/less confusing: 1) The search textbox should default to a search - not the v1.13 behavior (only if no article found deliver the results of a full text search). 2) Add a checkbox "I'm feeling very lucky" for exact matches (with a default unclicked). It is not common practice in search nowadays to jumping to an exact match without requesting it explicitly.
r46042 introduced the new optional behavior to show the commonly used pair of "Go" button & "Advanced search" link by setting $wgUseTwoButtonsSearchForm = false; in LocalSettings.php.
Usability team is working on this issue. :) Assigning to Trevor.
This seems to be kinda done in the Vector: http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2010/05/simplified-search-for-vector/ The problem is the search button does not search! This is a usability fail. The magnifying glass *always* mean "search".
Fixed in Vector skin.
