Last modified: 2012-12-19 14:17:04 UTC
There is an apparent user-interface inconsistency across Wikipedia [and Wiktionary] search pages. On-entry, the “search” field in the left-hand navigation window performs a “go to article of this name” [eg. typing “gomboc” yields the Gomboc article]. Yet if you mistype an entry into that search field [eg. “comboc” instead of “gomboc”], you are directed to the “special page” search page with the prompt ‘Did you mean…”. Any search from this page is now a “search for words within articles”; it’s no longer a “go to article of this name”, yet the user is not explicitly informed that the search field on this page will perform a different search than the “search” field on the left. With the “special page” active, there are two search fields visible, yet they don’t perform the same function. The left-hand field is labeled “search”, but on-entry, it actually performs a “Go” function, while on-etry from the right-hand field performs a "search” function. This is a violation [though minor] of user-interface design principles – same actions should provide same results. [The simple solution is to make it obvious that they are not the same actions, i.e. re-label the left-hand search field to “go to article”, and re-label the right-hand special page search field to “search for words in articles”.]
The buttons are consistently labeled -- "search" does the same thing in both places. "Go" is a shortcut for when you have an exact title match, falling back to regular search.
Although the buttons are consistly labeled, the default action [on-entry] is not. In one case, a carriage-return results in a "Go" action, but in the other a "Search" - yet there is no clear indication to the user that the same action will yeild different results.
If I'm using the Go box, when I press enter I expect it to default to go. It's the first button and it's what everyone has come to expect from Mediawiki. On the other hand, if I pressed enter on Special:Search I would expect it to actually perform a search, not direct me to the most appropriate article. I think it's actually correct the way it is. WONTFIX?
This issue is a subtle point of user interface design, not a full-blown "bug" [I originally posted it as a "suggestion", not a "bug"]. There's lots of room for subjectivity in determining whether this should be "fixed". The interface may work the way you expect, but I can claim that it doesn't work the way I expect. Therefore, I certainly understand the desire not to "fix" it [if it ain't broke...]. But I disagree that it is "correct" as it is. Instead I claim that it works as expected for most experienced users of this interface [all you developers], but does not work as expected for most new users [the rest of us]. For a new user, a mere typo changes the default operation of the interface - from "Go" to "Special:Search" [by virtue of the focus change]. Granted, the interface is simple enough that even a new user can figure out how to compensate for his unmet expectation [he can move focus back to the Go field, correct his typo, and hit enter again]. So you can argue it's a subtle and minor issue. But being "subtle and minor" is not the same as being "correct". I can accept the decision not to fix it - now, or ever. But in my [very subjective] opinion, in the next major overhaul of the user interface, this portion of the UI could be improved by finding a way to satisfy the expectations of both experienced users and new users. [Alternative 1: See the original submitted suggestion.] [Alternative 2: In the case of a user typo, display the Special:Search page, but keep the focus on the Go box.] How about LATER rather than WONTFIX?
If the initial query results in an error, it uses the more verbose 'search' option. This means, if there's an article with that exact title it will appear as the top result, instead of going there automatically. Having that extra page for people which retypes the corrected word (note that the article is likely to appear on the previous result page, so instead of fixing they would directly click there) is better than going to the exact people if the user wanted a deeper search instead (eg. titles with that word instead of the title which is that word).
Also, note that Go/Search is going to be replaced with a single icon in the new usability redesign. I.e. see http://prototype.wikimedia.org/en.wikipedia.org/Main_Page
(In reply to comment #6) > Also, note that Go/Search is going to be replaced with a single icon in the > new usability redesign. This has happened in the meantime, hence this report is not valid anymore nowadays.
