User:Tom-/Search issues

This is a list of current issues with Wikipedia/MediaWiki search interface (some monobook-specific).

Please feel free to edit this page and add your own. Please don't just add "search results are poor". This is focusing on the search interface, not results.

Search box UI

 * Poor location: mid-way on left is far too hidden; top-right is probably best
 * Also repeat search box bottom-right?
 * Doesn't use native-style widgets: hinders users in recognising the text input and buttons
 * Having "go" and "search" is confusing: can there be a better UI?
 * Isn't clear "go" is the default option: bolding it makes it clearer
 * Search isn't remembered: so user can't re-search if they make a mistake
 * Auto-focus: focus could default to search input on page load

Search error page

 * Very unhelpful: "Badly formed search query" is pretty meaningless
 * No search box in body content: user should be able to search from there, with full range of options
 * For query "": just shouldn't be displayed if nothing entered
 * Incorrect title: page's title is "Search results", but there are no results
 * No good error message: if you just don't enter any text

Search results page

 * Too much text in general, could be a lot terser
 * Page title could say "Search results for 'moo'"
 * If no matches, results page is poorly designed
 * No obvious "nothing found" message
 * No pointers on where to go next
 * Paging, "No page title/text matches", etc shouldn't be displayed if nothing found
 * Paging links could be better designed
 * "Search in namespaces" is ugly, hard to use, non-obvious and confusing
 * Always have Google/Yahoo as alternatives, even if search enabled?

Possible options

 * Option for where search box is located
 * Option for having it bottom-right as well as top-right
 * User option for auto-focusing search input
 * User option to always use Google/Yahoo/etc to search - or even provide custom search URL with %s?