Wikipedia:User experience feedback/search box

__NEWSECTIONLINK__

About the process on this page
--Jerzy•t 07:43, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) Many contributions on this page are unattributed, and not attributible thru the page's edit history. (It is likely that attribution could in theory be retrofitted via the edit history of User experience feedback/Archive 1.) In some cases that obscures the boundary between them and subsequent contribs that are signed by their authors or others, so annotations have been added noting the end of the unattributed material.
 * 2) Many contribs were left without normal WP sigs of link to user page and UTC timestamp, but are nevertheless attributible to at least an IP address; normal WP sigs have been added for them. (Please note that "real names" are not unwelcome, but they may not be used to the exclusion of the WP sig.)
 * 3) With rare exceptions (inapplicable here) a contrib to a WP discussion should be positioned
 * below, and indented further than, the contrib it is in response to,
 * in a new section at the bottom of the page, or
 * (rarely) in a new subsection at the end of an applicable enclosing section.
 * Contribs have accordingly been moved to the locations they should have had, to reduce confusion.
 * 1) S HOUTING (beyond the intended or unintended rudeness it conveys) interferes with readability, which thoughtful editors will recognize as the primary explanation for the standardization over the last millenium or two of Latin-alphabet prose and verse under the mixed-case style. Some editors will argue that all-caps prose text is a form of bullying that should be thwarted specifically to counter that intention where it may exist, but that policy need not be agreed upon in order to justify the conversion of all-caps material to a less disruptive format. (Where all-caps material appears within an utterance that is not entirely in all-caps -- making clear an intention of selective emphasis -- that emphasis has been preserved here without sacrifice of readability, by converting the all-caps portion to italic style.)

= Sections created without attribution = The first edit on this page placed 18 normal-level sections of unsigned comments, at 09:43, 14 May 2010. The one purported signature, within one of those sections and bearing a time/date-stamp earlier than that time and date, cannot be verified by consulting the edit history of this page. --Jerzy•t 23:24, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

What you have is not a SEARCH box, its a GO box!
Simple example. Say you are searching for "elliptic curve" (the cryptographic topic). There's is no way to search for it. If you type it in the box it will always lead you to "elliptic curve" (the mathematical topic). The old search did not suffer from this lack of functionality. You had two buttons (GO and SEARCH) and the default was go, but you could always search.

To achieve a search functionality in the new layout the average user has to type something like "hjkfhasjkf" to bring up the search page then type in "elliptic curve". This is stupid!

Give us a SEARCH box! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.112.229.200 (talk) 10:59, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

brief remark on search function in new Wikipedia
I think the search box should be much larger and more prominent on the Wikipedia homepage. It's basically the whole point of Wikipedia (the other stuff, featured article and news and whatnot, is just window-dressing) and yet in the new design it's tiny and hidden away in the top corner and you can hardly see it. Put it front and centre! End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

TOO SMALL
The current search box is ridiculously small and annoying! It can be at the top, but must be wider, like a search engine, e.g. Bing —Preceding unsigned comment added by Max49 (talk • contribs) 06:11 & :14,3 edits 17 May 2010

Search Bar
Bring it back to the left...if possible put it so that the it stays in the same spot on the screen (lower left) even when scrolling through the article. (Something similar to Google with it's search function)

new search feature - worse than before. you can't see the search result

Yeah, search field is broken. Type something, hit enter, it "forgets" the last few letters you typed. Every time. You have to stop and wait and let it think about it and catch up to your typing - even though what you typed displays fine immediately.

This is insane. Text entry fields on webpages are a known technology. How the hell do you screw it up? End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)


 * Let's put is simply. 3-5 secs to search for the Search Box. Let us say 11 million hits visiting the Wikipedia worldwide DAILY. That is 11 million secs lost, which amounts to 3055 person hours lost DAILY because of the "improved" layout. Another reason the search box should NOT have been changed.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.88.212.43 (talk) 15:46, 19 May 2010 (UTC)


 * But once you realize where the search box is, you won't have to search for it again in the future. Also 3-5 seconds per person is not that much. PlantRunner (talk) 23:08, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Search box on the left
Since a lot of menu is on the left it just felt naturally to have a search box on the left under the text. Thought the search box on the right is nice to have as a padding filler...Perhaps have two search boxes? End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Having the Search Box in the upper right corner is putting it both: "Out of the way" and "In a very inconvenient location". It should be moved back to the left so it's more easily accessible (and visible for that matter). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wick-iedWanderer (talk • contribs) 15:26, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

please move it back to the left. altough its okay to force people change their habbits, it is VERY illogical to have every other important feature on the left hand side EXCEPT the most important one. it is very unpleasant and irritating,l it also breaks with every traditional internetsite navigation there is. maybe with some time we get used to it, but its very inconvenient and impractical. the new layout has been online for probably 2-3 weeks now, i still move the cursor to the left intuitionally. it just doesnt feel right to have it up there, out of sight, in the wilderness, desperate and lonely.....

please move the search box back to the left!

otherwise: the new layout is ok, im not a fan of drop down menus, but i understand that you want to show what you've got. wikipedia is a great project in human knowledge and communication, im glad it exists! 87.243.151.162 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:43, 19 May 2010 (UTC).

The search box should be on the LEFT, where, I believe, it once was. When you go to a page, you start at your upper left, so, ergonomically, that is where the mouse pointer is usually placed. So a search box at the upper left would be easier to use than having to mouse all the way over to the right. User: hoccomocco. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.252.9 (talk) 09:52, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Search box on left, please. Why did you "fix" what wasn't broken. Silly, and decidedly unfriendly to regular users. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.239.96.226 (talk) 08:38, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Search box eats my keystrokes
Like at least one other person, I find the search box to be particularly voracious for my keystrokes. Just now, I wanted to know the land area of Africa, so I type "africa" into the search box quickly, then hit Enter. I ended up on the article for Afric Simone. Thinking I may have missed the "a", I did it again, and got the same results. Then I did it again while watching the box closely, and saw the complete word "africa" typed out, followed by the "a" getting lopped off between when I finished typing and when I hit the enter key.

Only bad things happen when you try to make the interface more clever than the user. The contents of the search box must be read-only to everything but the person doing the typing. Anything else will result in nothing but frustration. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)
 * This is a bug that needs to be fixed. It happens because your keystrokes exceed the pace at which the javascript suggest box can search.  When you press enter, you expect it to take the input you have given it, not whatever the search box is doing. - hahnch e n 22:31, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

With the search box on the right, I can't see the suuggestions that pop-up because the suggestions go off my screen to the right. I'm not changing my setting on my pc because they are perfect for me. This is the only site with which I have a problem in this sense so PLEASE move the box back to the left! Plus, I find the box on the left to be easier to spot with the rest of the menu items. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.233.235.53 (talk) 03:45, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Search box should be at the left of the main page
I got used to the search box at the top left of the Wikipedia main page. It should be relocated there. Whenever people go to Wikipedia, the first thing they do is entering a search term. Things that are most important on a page should appear at the top left - just a matter of 'intuitive' logic - alternatively, a Google-style minimalistic start page with the search box prominently placed in the center might also be worth a try. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)


 * a Google-style minimalistic start page with the search box prominently placed in the center might also be worth a try


 * like this?: http://wikipedia.org/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.243.151.162 (talk) 22:49, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

search bar on the upper right? Nah.
search bar on the upper right? pfft! no, no, no, and NO! End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Search Bar on Other Side of the World
I have mixed feelings about the new appearance and layout of the site, but I simply can't stand the search bar being in the upper right corner. The new appearance might be okay if it was put back to the left side, where I'm used to searching on most websites. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

ABSOLUTELY!!! Move it back to the left.

New design is slick but please ...
Hey guys,

The only problem I have and some of my colleagues and friends as well is : "Where is the search ?". It takes 3 to 5 seconds to find where it is. I understand that it can be a smart move because in Firefox the search is not to far from the 'firefox search' but still humans have habits that are hard to change. So maybe you should duplicate it and add a search in the left menu. It's maybe not best to duplicate from an ergonomics point of view but it's either :
 * Move "Search" back to the left panel
 * Duplicate "Search" inputs
 * Keep like that... even if not a la of people likes it, they just have to cope with it

I reckon solution 1 or 2 is probably the better :)

Thanks guys for your work and efforts anyway. Wikipedia is one of the best human creation in the world. Knowledge is priceless!. Thomas End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

YES... move it back where it belongs. Centered (perhaps after "discussion" might also work, but most Wiki navigation links are on the left. Why make search different?!? --143.239.7.2 (talk) 11:24, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

If it ISN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!
Sorry to sound so bold, but some of the features of this new layout, such as the search box being placed in the upper right hand corner is just completely unnecessary and inconvenient.

I see that a lot of other people feel the same way. Please reconsider giving us back the simplicity of the old layout, Wikipedia. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Regular trends in popular websites' "user friendly" updates are bad.
Wikipedias recent update is bad. There are two prominent kinds of UI update that most sites have been adopting, in my eyes at least. There are the sites that appear to be developing a "future" look, and those that go to a "past" look. Those that strip the site of templates and add a very basic system like youtube, trying to backdate the system; or those like wikipedia, trying to make the site more futuristic.

The search bar has been moved as with other features, and as a result wikipedia has became much harder to use.

I could whine on about many things, but all in all, the change in navigation layout is the largest problem.

It was brilliant before, and now it is not, and the change seems pointless. Please revert the layout. It does not seem like a 'user friendly' decision to change it.

Thanks. As a long tearm wikipedia user, and someone who defends the website in every case, I appreciate the oppourtunity to express my opinion. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Put the Search Box Back!!!
The search box is now very difficult to use. Not only are thousands (probably millions) in the habit of going to the left for it, it has only a few character spaces available to view. When I begin typing in it, "..." appears in just about every drop-down options, making them impossible to read. As to the other changes - were there any? I can't say I really noticed. It still looks too boring to notice, so I don't really care one way or another. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Search
Wikipedia seems (at least to me) to be a site centered around search. My suggestion is simple: not only should you return the search to the left column, but you should KEEP the search at the top right and ADD ANOTHER search bar at the bottom. Or what about a search bar that follows you as you scroll? On the left hand column. Please please please please please please please please bring back the left column search bar. Soon. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Search is slow...
Whenever I type something into the new search box and press enter (and I type pretty quickly), it'll cut off the last few letters. For example, when I just searched for "John Keats" all the letters appeared, but then the last two disappeared and it only searched for "John Kea". I think this has to do with how long it takes to calculate new search options, because when I wait for a new search suggestion list to be tabulated after the final letter and then press enter, it works normally.

Also the search is in an annoyingly weird spot..but whatever. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

The previous wikipedia is a success mainly owing to its convenience and speed and good fund of information, but its SPEED now is absolutely disappointing. TOO SLOW. If compromising the speed and convenience it offers is the price to pay for a new appearance, I'd rather it look old. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.132.0.125 (talk) 00:33, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

put the search feature back where it belongs
The search feature is my primary way of using Wikipedia. IMO, it belongs in the left hand navigation area, where it was. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

PLEASE RESTORE THE PREVIOUS/PRIOR LOCATION OF THE 'SEARCH BOX'
WHY DID YOU MOVE THE 'SEARCH BOX'??? It used to be much more convenient when it was located on the upper LEFT side of the Wikipedia page. [Previously, for example, if one had their Internet 'Favorites' list open (which opens on the LEFT side of a Windows computer screen) and (especially) if they have 'Wikipedia' located at or near the top of their 'Favorites' list, when they clicked on Wikipedia and accessed the main page, the (old) Search Box would appear on their screen immediately (right-)adjacent to the 'Favorites' list from which they had just clicked. This was both visually and practically/motorically-speaking (for the hand, using either mouse &/or keyboard) more user-friendly than your new Search Box location. -- If you wish to locate your Search Box on the right side of your page to appeal to people who are used to seeing it on that side on other websites, then have 2 Search Boxes - one on each side (you could make everybody happy; and I have seen this on some websites). But, frankly, 'LEFT side' makes more sense since we (and I think most cultures do) read 'left-to-right' - we are thus visually trained/accustomed to reading things this way. But the right-sided Search Box is clearly not as convenient for people who access Wikipedia via their 'Favorites' list (for the reasons stated above), so can you please restore the previous left-sided Search Box? ...And while you're at it, can you please add/insert some clickable "Return to top" (i.e., 'Go back to the top of the page') buttons every so many inches down each Wikipedia web page? These would be much more convenient to use, rather than having to use the scroll bars to navigate back up to the top - especially when a very long web page is involved and/or when you only want to be using your mouse for navigation and not be continually switching back and forth between mouse and keyboard (keyboard being the only way to access 'Page Up' &/or 'Home' keys). The 'MedLine Plus' website uses these 'Return to top' buttons on each of their individual medication pages and it is a very convenient feature. Thank you for your consideration. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

HEY, THE SEARCH BOX MOVER MUST BE REALLY THICK AND TOTALLY INCOMPETENT. GIVE HIM A BOOT AND PUT THE BOX BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!118.93.84.178 (talk) 02:31, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Search bar that follows you
I think that the search bar, as well as everything else on the left column, should be placed on a floating bar that follows you as you scroll down the page. This way, someone who has scrolled halfway down a long page can easily access the toolbar. Besides the positioning of the search bar, I think the theme is pretty nice. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Search bar move... bad move
The search bar is one of your most important components on your site. If anything, it should be in the top center. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Change for change's sake is Evil
Specifically, there was nothing broken about search-on-the-left, so there was no reason to change/move it. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them)

Search Box should stay at the left
The search box should keep on the left side. Now it's not there where all the other navigation is. End of unattributed contrib (or block of several of them) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.113.121.248 (talk) 17:54, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

= Subsequently created sections = Some sub- sections of first-edit normal-depth sections were also subsequently added, but have been kept subordinate to their original sections. --Jerzy•t 23:24, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Once and for All
There is a way to change it!!!! Just change the skin to MonoBook again, and/or disable new features. If you're not logged in, why are you here? Isn't this page for Users?  2D Backfire Master  lovably sardonic 11:08, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
 * you dont have to be logged in to be a user. so yeah, its for users, but for all of them, not just the ones with names. 87.243.151.162 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:58, 19 May 2010 (UTC).

Search bar is hard to find
Please rethink the search bar placement/design. In my opinion, it must be somewhere in the main (left) navigation, and, if possible, a little wider / more prominent.

I think we can agree that most Wikipedia users are searching for a particular article, and given that most users start reading a web page from the top left  , it makes the most sense to put the search bar near that area.

The search function is, in my opinion, Wikipedia's best feature ... please don't hide it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.111.153.77 (talk) 16:15, 14 May 2010


 * What kind of an idiot would move the Search Box? Maybe he has been previously employed in Office 2007 redesign. 118.93.84.178 (talk) 02:27, 15 May 2010 (UTC)


 * After being flummoxed as to where the search box had been moved to, I found it. But why does ti some-times have the word "search" in it and other times not?  A stylized magnifying glass is at best ambiguous.Kdammers (talk) 04:04, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Too short
I like it the way it is, but it should be longer. Thanks, Tommy2010 02:42, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Indeed. They've improved it since this skin was first made default (It used to abbreviate long titles and showed no tooltips). Although they've introduced the tooltips that were in the old skin, half the title disappears under the browser's vertical scrollbar or whatever. It needs more work and as you said, it can be longer. The space between Discussion and Read is totally wasted. -- Karunyan, 08:05, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Search Box Malfunctioning
For me, using firefox 3.0.19 on Mac, when I enter something into the little search box and press enter, it doesn't search everything that I entered into the box. It cuts off some of it; sometimes all of it. So if I entered "Bond 23" and press enter, is just searches 'B'. However if I enter "Bond 23", pause, and then press enter, then it searches for the whole term. This never happened with the old search bar. So there seems to be something wrong with this new search bar. It's really annoying.
 * Seems other people are having this problem too. THIS IS SO ANNOYING!!!! Sigh...IAmTheCoinMan (talk) 07:58, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Please Return the Search Box to the Left
All the other changes are great. Why? Because they are improvements. Moving the search box, however, was not an improvement at all. Please move the Search Box back to the Left. Thank You. --Park Ave Historian (talk) 08:10, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

I Hate the New Search Box
On top of cutting off my results when I type too quickly, and on top of the poor search box placement (both as mentioned by others), I hate the following scenario: I click the search box and, in the process of letting go of the mouse, impulsively drag it down a bit from the search box. Then, I type out "principle", and, coincidentally, the second result in the drop-down, "Principle of Relativity", ends up beneath my mouse and highlighted. I press the enter key, thinking that I'll be redirected to the page for the word that I typed, but, instead, I'm taken to "Principle of Relativity", because that's what the drop-down put beneath my mouse. If I wanted to go to that article... I'd click on it. Please, don't just ignore what I type and, instead, go to what's beneath my mouse. If you're going to do the "enter key works with what's highlighted in the drop-down menu" thing, please don't highlight a suggestion until the mouse has been moved. Please! --129.89.186.250 (talk) 08:23, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

autocomplete is debilitated
If your autocomplete results are long and begin with many of the same characters, you won't be able to tell the difference between the options. Because the bar is too far to the right and you can't see the whole result. Just put the bar back on the left please.

How do you do a text search?
Excuse me if either this has already been mentioned a million times, or if I'm being stupid, but I just noticed that the "text search" feature seems to have disappeared. This is what I mean. If I type "Athelstan" (say) in the search box, then whatever I do I seem to get taken to Athelstan of England. I used to be able to click "Search" to search the text of all articles for the string "Athelstan", but now that feature seems to have disappeared. If I type a string of nonsense, like "kjuahsdkjahs", that has no article, then I get taken to the search page where I can then type in my desired search string -- but surely that isn't how it's meant to work? 86.135.28.105 (talk) 22:58, 15 May 2010 (UTC).

Too far-right
I don't care if it's at the top, but the autocomplete is pointless for long titles like Wikipedia or Wikipedia talk space pages. Please move it to the top left, or even center.

The search function is the most important, so why hide it in the top right corner? Blow it up and make it searcher-friendly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.203.79.39 (talk) 20:22, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Will one other comment on the right menu make a difference? :)
I do 3 things on wikipedia: look at home page, search, follow links. Search is the only part of the ui that I use.

Search box requests:

- consistantly positioned relative to top left of page.

- Easily viewable (not too far from the top left).

- automatically gets focus when page loaded

- enter key linked to search (already the case)

(and to get all "spanish inquisition" on you: I do 4 things. Edit articles... and give feedback.... 5 things!.... and make donations, 6 things!!)

Please have two search boxes
I have to admit to some bewilderment as to why the search box was moved to the top right, considering that a search box on the left is a standard feature of most MediaWiki installations (not just Wikipedia). There's obviously a lot of confusion on this point, so to get the best of both worlds, how about having two search boxes? Keep the one at top right, fine, but also have one in the original location in the left menubar, since that's where many people are used to looking. An option in preferences could also be added, to let people toggle their search box location, or toggle any unused box on or off. For the immediate term though, I strongly recommend adding a search box back to the lefthand menu. --Elonka 23:29, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree. Many of us old time users are so use to the previous interface that having two search boxes would be nice.  Those of us who have been accustom to the old ways, and those who haven't. --AllyUnion (talk) 18:36, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Lol, there can't be two searchboxes. It would look stupid. No doubt, the best place for the searchbox will be found soon.KenyaSong (talk) 22:02, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Of course there can be two searchboxes. It's a simple interface change, and would probably address most of the complaints that are coming in. To try and say "well, our usability testing showed that upper right is better", does not seem to be meshing with actual practice.  Having two searchboxes, even if only temporarily, would help people people transition.  I'm also of the strong opinion that a search box should remain on the left, because there are many wikis using MediaWiki software popping up around the web, which have search boxes on the left, so that's where people are naturally looking to find the search.  To *not* have it there, is jarring. --Elonka 16:47, 18 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Why would it look stupid? Just saying that the "best place for the search box will be found soon" doesn't solve the argument, just sweeps it under the floor.  Elonka's suggestion is reasonable.  Personally, the fact that it's in the upper left corner is a little redundant in usability especially when most current browsers have a search engine toolbox where you can "adapt" additional search engines (such as the Wikipedia).  But that's just me. --AllyUnion (talk) 01:32, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Put it back, please.
The search box should on the left, near the other controls. If it's a space issue, the toolbox would make more sense on the upper right. The search box belongs with the general navigation and content links on the left. I detest this skin for a number of reasons, but this is the worst part of it. I'm a registered editor, but I'm not bothering to log-in for this comment. 72.229.55.107 (talk) 03:08, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I haven't read all of the complaints, so mine may well be a repeat. I don't think the search is as effective as it used to be. Once I found the search box, I entered my query. I was looking for info on Nicholas Barbon. I typed "Barbon" fully expecting his name to pop up somewhere. It doesn't. Seems like in the good old days, a historically prominent individual with a full wiki article devoted to them would have been found with such a search. I eventually found what I was looking for, but only after going at it sideways. I am also against all change - please put the search function back in the navigation panel on the left! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.236.246.9 (talk) 14:43, 17 May 2010

Poor testing.
A study size of a mere 8 users, for a drastic change to a site with several hundred thousand users, is simply unacceptable. A drastic rearrangement of the core element of the site (without the search box, Wikipedia is essentially useless) requires a far larger sample size. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.131.102 (talk) 16:14, 17 May 2010

eye tracking + search box placement
I appreciate the we-do-our-own-research attitude… much better to do some user testing than none at all. However, I think the uproar over the logo revision is a good reminder that there are real experts out there, that finding someone who's competent to do the job isn't enough.

It's good you wanted to know that people could find the search box before you went ahead and implemented the change. But that doesn't mean it's in a good place. And it doesn't mean that you didn't happen on the perfect placement before.

Four points, two hanging on my professional cognitive scientist standpoint (not that I know what's what exactly, but this is the sort of thing I've spent time around), one from my designer standpoint (not that a lot of other people who've left comments aren't more high profile designers than I am) and one I arrive at by taking the "I wonder what others' studies have found" approach rather than "I wonder what my study will find.

1) The search box should not be at the top of the page, but low enough to be seen after scrolling down a ways, so that it available both from the top of the page and after reading most of a screen's worth of an article. This will let users read a mid-length article, or the intro to a long article, and search for something new without scrolling up.

2) My suspicion is that most images are floated on the right. Certainly infoboxes are placed on the right. Text is left-aligned and ragged. This all (the first two, and the third given the first two) effectively brings the right margin in a ways. Sticking the search box to the right of the screen puts it in the margin space - which experientially means you're putting it beyond the bounds you've been looking within.

3) I googled "eye tracking web page" images. It took a minute. I won't bother including a bunch of links. You can, and should have already, done this search yourself. The immediate conclusion looking at everyone's heat maps is that you spend the most time on the left, close to the top, and from there attention peters out quickly moving right and a little less quickly moving down. People seem spend time attending to the top left only when there's something there - and it's true web designers (myself included) like to have something up there, I suppose for balance, so this is a good user strategy but suggests that it isn't an area people "want" to find data.

4) Being able to see the search box even when not at the top screen may turn out be an important factor in WP's success: the search box is in a high-attention area for a long time, and its imperative "Search" repeatedly tells the user to look up yet another subject. Hidden by the scroll, there won't be that reminder, and it may be easier to navigate to some other site.

A part of the webpage you want people to use a lot should be toward the top left. On a site like WP, that thing is the search box. On a site like WP, people will often be scrolling down - so something that starts in the top left will quickly go off screen. The ideal then seems to be a search box a little ways down on the left, within the highest-attention zone both from the top of the page and from half a screen lower.

So, congratulations, that's exactly what was first intuited in 1.0!

Add to that the fact the very real value of familiarity (maybe the people you tested didn't notice, but I only noticed that "check out the changes" banner and sleek background while scanning for the answer to "hey what the hell happened to the search box?!), and I'll be using the old version as long as I can. — eitch 01:35, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Yeah i also feel that search box original place was much better....now its pretty non intuitive to look up and find the box —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.210.234 (talk) 14:24, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia as home page
Something I think hasn't been mentioned yet is that a search box on the left is convenient if you have Wikipedia as your home page. At least for the Mac, you open up a new window from the upper left hand corner of the screen. This would make a upper left hand corner position for the search box the closest to your mouse cursor's current position when the window opens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.223.96.244 (talk) 17:36, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

== Wikipedia Home Page Search

WHERE IS IT? Its like tryin to find wheres waldd.

You guys need to back of the hard drgs: 99% of these "improvements" are actually distractions.

DEATH TO THE NEW WIKIPEDIA. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.88.33.253 (talk) 20:30, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Search Button
On wide screens having the search button so far over makes it out of the regular sight of view, return it to the left as it will be more easily located and like other users have said more prominent feature of the sight. (anyone that follows the roman alphabet reads left to right after all)

~ sandyer —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.90.50.10 (talk) 08:42, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Much better now – Thanks! – Could be better still
My main concerns about functionality of the new search box have been fixed:
 * 1. The dropdown now expands leftward to accommodate long titles.
 * 2. The "containing..." feature restores access to full search results. (Its position at the end of a dynamic list is less convenient than a fixed-position button, but at least it's available.)

I still have a couple ease of use issues, primarily because I very often paste text in the search box using a mouse (IE7). These are relatively minor, but they make for a fiddly user-experience.
 * 3. One cannot right-click to paste text in the search box without selecting it first. The old search box did not require an extra click to select.
 * 4. The dropdown is not triggered by pasting with the mouse. The old search box was the same in this regard, but the difference is that, without a persistent "search" button, one must make a superfluous keystroke to expose the "containing..." feature.

I would still prefer that the iconic magnifying glass button deliver full search results rather than "I'm feeling lucky," but you can't please everybody.
 * Q: How many Wikimedians does it take to change a light bulb?
 * A: All of them — Everything is done by consensus.

Many thanks to all the folks who are working on this. ~ Ningauble (talk) 16:50, 21 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Re: the magnifying glass behavior, it seems potentially highly confusing to trigger a different behavior when clicking the icon than when pressing "Enter". Users may consider both of these to be the same "default action", and the difference in behavior is not immediately understandable (the default action also attempts a full-text search if no title match is found). IMO the "containing" approach is the most intuitive method proposed so far to give permanent access to full-text search. (Very few ordinary users I've ever talked to understood the difference between "Search" and "Go", hence 577.) But, there may be ways to make it more understandable and accessible still.--Eloquence* 17:52, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Ningauble: I reported the issue that you describe in #3 here - mediazilla:23611.
 * Eloquence: It's possible that i hold the minority opinion, but i found the "Go" and "Search" buttons perfectly logical since the first time i saw them. See mediazilla:23588 mediazilla:23558. (You are mentioned there and not disrespectfully.) --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 18:25, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Ok Eloquence, the way I stated that was overly specific (just like the result of clicking "Go"). What I really mean is that I would prefer the default result be search results. Alternatively, persistent tools could be afforded for both options without using too much real-estate by using a right-pointing arrow for "Go" and a magnifying glass for "Search." (Considering Google's ubiquity, I find it hard to understand how the dual option could be mysterious to people.) ~ Ningauble (talk) 19:00, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Amir: Neither of the Bug#s to which you linked pertain to the issues discussed. Typo? ~ Ningauble (talk) 19:28, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Corrected mediazilla:23588 to mediazilla:23558.
 * mediazilla:23611 is what i meant. The search box in Monobook immediately goes to the article if a search suggestion is right-clicked or left-clicked. But getting to the suggestion using a keyboard arrow pastes it into the box. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 20:03, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Your point #4 makes sense, even though i use mouse paste quite rarely. I reported it as mediazilla:23622. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 20:47, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Point #3 appears to have been a false alarm (or perhaps it was fixed): If I wait long enough after the page appears to have rendered, then the text box will take focus from a right-click. I assume the latency is due to JavaScript still initializing the page, or it could be an IE bug. (This is unrelated to Bug#23611.) ~ Ningauble (talk)
 * It has come to light elsewhere that problem #3 is not caused by when you click the search box, but where you click within the box: right-clicking on the word "search" does not work, but right-clicking elsewhere within the box works correctly. ~ Ningauble (talk) 12:49, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Item #3, right click the word "Search," has been reported as 24096. ~ Ningauble (talk) 18:41, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Another complaint
The search box isn't where it should be. It is not user-friendly at all. As I already noted in the poll - if you thought this change is user-friendly, you're wrong. Wrong-wrong. Wrong as in "wrong". And, even if you weren't wrong, you still were wrong, because you are wrong. Please undo this abomination of a change. I can almost hear the search box crying, and water doesn't do good to LCD, you know.

Also, the new design rocks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by KsbjA (talk • contribs) 12:42, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Special:Preferences > Gadgets > Focus search box on load
In Special:Preferences > Gadgets I have "Focus the cursor in the search bar on loading the Main Page." checked. On the Main Page, I can start typing immediately though the word "Search" doesn't disappear; so my search text is on top of the grey word "Search", making it unreadable. Did I make sense?  Alex Muller  10:50, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Search Box Autocomplete
The trouble is that when you begin typing something into the search box and it gives you suggestions. If you want a suggestion as the beginning of your search term, but crucially not the entire search term pressing return takes you to the page, rather than completing the box and allowing you to carry on typing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DanielWaterworth (talk • contribs) 19:04, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi!
 * I was wondering if would it be possible to have the selected string autocompleted when the user type TAB in the search box. For example, after typing "math" it is shown a list with
 * Mathematics
 * Mathematician
 * If we press down arrow to select "Mathematician" and then press TAB, nothing happens ( using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; pt-BR; rv:1.9.0.6) Gecko/2009011913 Firefox/3.0.6 ). It is expected to have the word "Mathematician" auto completed for easy use of the search box. Helder (talk) 11:39, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
 * By the way: this is a regression, because on monobook the text was autocompleted when we pressed down arrow key to until get a list item... Helder (talk) 22:21, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I have the same problem, and I think it's a huge one. I often use the search box simply for copy-and-paste, but now I can't do that without actually visiting the page (Win7, FF 3.6.3). That's messed up. Lampman (talk) 23:36, 19 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Some people think that it's a feature, but it's definitely a bug. I already reported it as a bug 23611 in Bugzilla, Wikimedia's bug tracker. It is probably being taken care of. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 12:35, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi guys! I think you're right, this is really a regression, I'll keep an eye on it.
 * Raylton P. Sousa(talk) 21:18, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Raylton P. Sousa(talk) 21:18, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

New Search Box & Languages
Like others, I prefer the searchbox on the left. However, I also prefer the old search function. Have a more difficult time finding what I need with the new search function.

I also preferred having the language list available on the left sidebar.

You might wish to consider an actual survey tool for taking a user survey on the new look and functionality. One where a user can answer questions by clicking multiple choice radio-button responses to questions, with perhaps a couple of open text box questions at the end. That is, if you actually want user feedback. If not, keep things as they are and proceed without user input. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Phrasis (talk • contribs) 23:32, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Search Box
Abruptly moving controls from one corner to another corner, is the dumbest thing one could do in User Experience. Please fire the guy who suggested this, and Hire people with Common sense, not with UI degrees. Most unproductive in this society are the UI guys!

I hope some one in the top is listening. Take action!! Not every one would have the patience required to search for a small text box all around. You are losing trust.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.94.181.75 (talk) 03:03, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Prefer search box on left
I use Firefox, and the WP search box is now directly under the FFx search box. I've accidentally googled "WP:something" more times than I can count, and I've only been in Vector for a day or 2 now... I might get used to it, but I still prefer the left. Arakunem Talk 14:43, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Please listen to us about the search box
As a software developer, I understand the need to improve software to remain competitive in the marketplace. I also know that "improving" a website is usually little more than updating the logo, colorscheme, and moving all the shit around to make it seem like someone spent some time to make the site better. The reason that I (and many others I think also) love Wikipedia is its simplicity. I love seeing websites that haven't gone over to the flash/javascript/html5 model of "let's make everything shiny with animations and crazy swirling fades between each page!". While you haven't gone that far, I believe an accurate analogy would be if firefox/IE/safari/chrome moved the back, forward, refresh, home buttons, url and search boxes to the bottom of the web browser. They could say "our studies have shown that users primarily view content on the top half of the browser, so we moved some controls to the bottom to allow a seemingly greater viewing area and enhanced browsing experience". How would you feel if that happened? That's about how we all feel now. Please move the search bar to where it used to be. Thank you.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FIX AUTOCOMPLETE!!!
This is something that would seriously make me not want to use Wikipedia ever again. There is a "glitch" (I'm sure it was done this way on purpose) where autocomplete will highlight whatever is the closest if your cursor is near the search box (both if you are copy/pasting something to search for and if you're typing your selection in.) At first I thought it was just random, but I realized it was the relation to the cursor below the search box. Anyway, please just put it back the way it was. There should be more than enough evidence that people do not like the change. I guess I will just have to get used to putting my cursor above the search box after I click on it when I'm getting ready to type in a search...Holgatej77 (talk) 23:15, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Ditto, happened to me as well. The new look in general is too much Javascript-heavy. Not everyone runs a quad-core, you know? I really don't see what you tried to fix with this new look, because to be it did not look broken. 123.225.212.94 (talk) 02:46, 5 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I have the same problem. When you press enter after typing something, it doesn't go by what you've typed, but rather whatever the mouse cursor is over. That makes absolutely no sense! Wraithdart (talk) 20:27, 20 June 2010 (UTC)


 * What are you talking about? When you start typing, your mouse should disappear, so you shouldn't be able to accidentally click on the autocomplete.  PlantRunner (talk) 23:14, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Active Search Box as soon as Wikipedia Homepage is loaded
The new place of the search box is ok I think. Change is good and the users will soon get used to it, in my opinion...

However, as Wikipedia got visually improved, it should have been more accessible, too. I use Safari (Windows) as my browser, and when I want to visit Wikipedia, I do these actions in order:
 * 1) Ctrl+T (for a new tab)
 * 2) Press "E" (and then "en.wikipedia.org" appears immediately, since "en.wikipedia.org" is the most visited website, which begins with "e")
 * 3) press the Enter Key

Now, here I can actually easily make the Search Box active by just pressing the Tab Key once. But I also could just type what I want to search immediately. I know that this is not that much important; but it was equally not important to Google, Ekşi Sözlük, YouTube, Yahoo!, Google Translate, etc., too.

I don't think that this is something hard to make, although, I am not even slightly educated about it...

--ThoAppelsin (talk) 14:07, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Active Search Box
Allow me to join the chorus line regarding the topic "Active Search Box as soon as Wikipedia Homepage is loaded". This feature is common and essential on most sites with a search box and it has always irritated me that wikipedia doesn't have this feature. Should be standard so you don't have to be a registered member to activate it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jakobm1 (talk • contribs) 20:38, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm Sick of Searching for the Search Box!
Dear Wikipedia,

I suffer from lack of sight in my right eye and I found that, until recently, Wikipedia was the only site which accommodated for this disability. In my profession, as a researcher for a local childrens' hospital, I regularly use Wikipedia to brighten the lives of children with terminal illness.

Please move the search bar back to the left where it rightfully belongs.

Yours sincerely, Dr. F. P. Strauss. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.89.172.193 (talk) 23:21, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

(move the search box to the left please!!!)
move the search box to the left please!!!

Its really not user friendly where its placed on the right side of the screen. All the other tabs are on the left and if you have a widescreen you have to move your cursor all the way to the right. its a pain in the ass, nobody wants to get used to it. Stop dickin around with the website look, keep it the same. Nobody likes changing something good into shit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.252.144.171 (talk) 23:50, 2 June 2010

Yes or no
Please at least tell us if anything is going to change. I would too like the search box to be moved to the left. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.255.124 (talk) 07:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Another selection issue
If the cursor is over the list of suggested search terms then if return is hit to initiate the search, the article whose title is under the cursor at the time will load instead of the article whose title has been entered into the search box. Most suggested terms lists will not override the text entered if the cursor happens to be left near or over the list - a click should be required to select it, it is counter-intuitive, and I don't see why it should be done here. I originally posted this on the bug reports page, because it is such a stupid strange "feature" that I mistook it for a glitch. -- G W … 19:06, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Searchbox issue on Symbian OS
I have a nokia E51 with Symbian as an OS. There is an issue however when I want to use wikipedia: anything I enter in the search box is shown as a black box and not as a character. The result is that I can't see what I type. This wasn't the case in the old layout.

I know symbian is bad, but it seems to me that this isn't desirable behaviour. Codegrinder (talk) 21:10, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Bug report
If I hit "Enter", I want to search for the word I typed, not for the word that happens to be highlighted because my mouse happens to be on one of the suggestions. This cannot be by design, it must be a bug. Please fix it, it's driving me nuts. Thank you. Hopefully acceptable username (talk) 09:37, 12 June 2010 (UTC)


 * This has been reported at Requests for comment/May 2010 skin change/Bug reports, where it is claimed that this "feature" (interpreting a keystroke at the text insertion point as a left-click at the mouse location) is indeed by design. ~ Ningauble (talk) 16:03, 12 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you, I left a comment there. This is ridiculous, I always thought WP developers knew what they were doing. 205.228.108.186 (talk) 07:27, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Issues with smaller screen
Hello, When viewing the wikipedia frontpage on a school computer (which is basically square shaped) the search box basically vanishes off the page, don't know if this has already been reported ?

Thanks, StephenBHedges (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 17:25, 13 June 2010 (UTC).

Search box bottom padding
The bottom padding of the search text should be equal to the top padding or at least increased slightly more as the current padding gives an impression that the text is clipped. (Test Browser: Chrome) WikiOn (  t |  c ) 06:54, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

RELIEF: I FOUND SOME SOLUTION
This link shows the search box like I want it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search

Aaaaah what a relief.

I put it to my favorites. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.59.86.242 (talk) 09:48, 15 June 2010 I just found this same "wiki work-around". It's great! Not only is the search box on the left, it's wider, gets default focus, and it returns a list of search results. As an added bonus, the page is free of all the usual front page stuff, so no distractions. I also replaced my bookmark with it immediately. I guess the special search page has always been around, but I've never felt the need to seek an alternative to the front page until the recent changes. Surprised it doesn't get more mentions here - it appears to solve many of the general complaints.

Bless You for posting this! OCCAM'S RAZOR = simplest solution usually the BEST :D

Search Box Location on Page
I think majority of the scripts / languages are written or read from left to right side, maybe thats why majority of the wiki users prefer the old search box location. This might be because the eyes of most of the users focus first on left top of the page. I prefer the old search box location. Please revert it back, I am sure majority of wiki users will like that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.177.143.196 (talk) 08:56 & :58, 16 June 2010
 * Please stop testing this new layout on us. It's no improvement. Bring the old one back. Especially the search box. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.42.95.107 (talk) 17:34, 16 June 2010

how about prioritizing my keystrokes over the suggestions in the search box?
Please make the search box work like every other search box in the history of ever. I don't care where you put it. I just wish it worked properly.

I can understand why a lot of people are upset about the location of the search bar, and that annoyed me too for a while. But the real problem here is that every time I type something into the search box and hit enter, I find out that the search box has decided to "interpret" what I typed as a "suggestion" rather than, you know, actually showing me what I'm looking for.

This is annoying. Extremely annoying. What's even more annoying is that after I realize I'm at the wrong page, I go back to the search box, begin typing again, hit enter, and end up somewhere else. Meanwhile, if I type in what I want, then carefully select the words I typed exactly as I typed them, I end up at exactly the topic I was looking for. So I mean it's not like I'm looking for pages that don't exist and it's giving me the next best thing.

As we type, the drop-down menu can offer suggestions or completions of our phrases. And if we like these suggestions, we can hit the down arrow or use the mouse to use them. But why is the search box making decisions? Aren't I supposed to make decisions? If I wanted a random article, would I use the random article link over there?

It's seriously gotten so bad that it's easier to just mouse up a little bit more to my browser's google bar and use that to search Wikipedia. Was this your goal all along? To save infrastructure costs by letting google handle your indexing? Lame.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion. 71.182.136.214 (talk) 18:50, 16 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree it's amazing how this could possibly get past QA, let alone UAT. This has been identified and it is being fixed, see here and here. 222.149.64.115 (talk) 14:41, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Keyboard shortcut for search please?
Hi there, can we please add a keyboard shortcut for searching?

If you hit "/" in Gmail, you can start typing in the "email search" box immediately (the shortcut comes from Unix utils such as vi). I find keyboard shortcuts very useful. Can we do the same here please? Fewer people will care about where the bar actually is, and fewer people still will have to get to the top of the page to search for another article.


 * www.usability.com.au

Thanks. 222.149.64.115 (talk) 14:38, 20 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Alt-F!! I just noticed that by hovering on the box. Thanks to whoever did it, although the fact that nobody replied suggests that nobody is really reading these feedback pages. I guess the developers are running around the office with figers in their ears saying, "lalalala... everybody likes vector... whoever doesn't is an idiot... LALALALALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" 221.47.185.5 (talk) 00:30, 19 July 2010 (UTC)

(Predictive text functionality ...)
Predictive text funcationality is not avaliable on homepage text box,though its avaialbel in inner pages —Preceding unsigned comment added by Adityasawant (talk • contribs) 12:11, 21 June 2010

One More Request For Search Bar On Left
On the right it sits just below my FF search box, how many other folks have used the wrong box? PLEASE MOVE IT BACK 216.103.87.80 (talk) 18:07, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

(Miscellaneous)

 * A straw poll is being conducted here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Usability/Search box poll 2010. --AllyUnion (talk) 02:50, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
 * The search box cannot currently be used for searching Wikipedia when an article with the same name as the search string exists. See bug 23558. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 16:51, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
 * --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 07:32, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * The behavior of automatic search suggestions in the current SimpleSearch box is different from their behavior in the old search box. See bug 23611. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 13:55, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

The left side is the most logical one for the search bar
I agree that putting the search box where it was would be a very good idea. I have a feeling that most users tend to have their mouse pointer on the left side of the screen because this is where the Back and Forward buttons and the brower's menu entries are located, just like the Google search box in the Google toolbar. The wider your browser window, the more your hand will need to travel to reach the search box. Why change something when it is in its best and most natural location? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.203.25.70 (talk) 19:15, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Absolutely agree. Move the search bar back to the left.--143.239.96.226 (talk) 15:29, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Everything's Messed UP!
I'm running Firefox 3.6.3 for Linux Mint. I can't even see the search box when I'm on an article page. The tabs are all messed up too, so "discuss" is hanging over the article. To look up a new article that isn't linked in the one I'm reading, I'm having to click "discuss" and My mouse hand wants to go left to enter a new search, so I'm having to retrain it. I don't even see the need for a redesign at all. It just "happened" to me - I didn't beta test the new design or anything :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.41.52.50 (talk) 12:46, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia Search Left
Can you please move the search box back to the left, please and thank you.Strangersound (talk) 12:11, 20 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I do agree. Please move the search box back to the left. Or at least, let it as a possible choice for any wikipedia user. (Cliohist) 20:11, 10 June 2010

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Cliohist (talk • contribs) 18:47, 10 June 2010


 * I'm sick and tired of how websites start off good, and then slowly get infected with bureaucracy. Google started off great, but is now full to the brim with obfuscatory JavaScript designed to spy on people and make it difficult to determine how to defend against it, whilst undermining usability when JavaScript is disabled. The cursor doesn't even default to the search box anymore without JavaScript. Whilst this option would be inappropriate for Wikipedia's search box due to anchor issues and others, the mentality is the same. We start off with a good system, and then some imbecile decides to change it and force that change as a default; the only way to revert is to submit to the possibility of user profiling caused by creating an account. While this is not a problem at the moment, the way things are going, it may well become so in the future. I suggest we either have the option for the 'new look' available to registered users, with the old scheme a default for anonymous users, or a new subdomain like old.en.wikipedia.org to cater for such users. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.137.144 (talk) 16:43, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia Search Box
Look, when someone goes to wikipedia it is to search for information on a topic. So why would you have the search box at the very very very top right corner of the page???? I mean WWWHHYYYY would it not be one of the obvious features of the page? That makes ZERO logical sense. The entire reason someone goes to wikipedia is to SEARCH for a topic. And to stick it in the extreme top right corner like some random tertiary element of the page.. You are trying to kill your site. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.203.163.99 (talk) 07:15, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia Search Box (II)
Please move the Search Box back to where it was, its difficult to see and find. Or At the very least make it bigger, and move it so that it is dead smack center of the Wikipedia main page. I come to wikipedia to search on a topic not necessarily to see "what happened today in history" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.123.49.85 (talk) 02:11, 20 May 2010 (UTC)



SEARCH BOX ON THE LEFT PLEASE!
ANOTHER AGREEMENT TO SEARCH BOX BACK ON THE LEFT!

IT WAS FAR BETTER WITH WIKIPEDIA AND ITS SEARCH BOX ON TEH LEFT. IT IS SO INFURIATING NOW BEING IN THE TOP RIGHT AND TINY!

MOVE IT BACK PLEASE! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.147.137.194 (talk) 10:40 (2 edits), 17 May 2010

When searching (film), (album), etc. on long name searches one cannot identify what the rest of the search box says. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.233.10.43 (talk) 00:43, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

SEARCH BOX IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL IN WIKIPEDIA!
The Search Box is the FIRST thing I need when I open Wikipedia. Therefore, it *MUST* be placed in the top left corner, and it needs to be highlighted.

This is also true for all other websites where searching is a key function: google, bing, wolfram alpha, youtube, amazon, ebay, yahoo, gmx, etc.

A search box in the top right corner is only useful on sites where the search is just an "add-on", i.e. a minor functionality.

Also, I have a big screen and my arm already hurts from constantly moving the mouse into the top right corner.

Except for the Search Box, I like the new design a lot. It looks much more smooth and cleaned up. --Georg Scholz (talk) 08:12, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Ok, WHEN can we expect the search box onm left again?
OK, I assume that the search box will be moved back onto the left, since quite everybody wants it. Just WHEN will this be done?

Kind regards --Georg Scholz (talk) 08:15, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Mouse hover over autosuggestions causing unwanted results
When I click on the search box and move the cursor slightly away to avoid blocking my text, I often find that I end up highlighting one of the autosuggestions that pops up that is different from what I actually wanted. It would be better if the autosuggestions were only triggered by keyboard selection (e.g. arrow keys + enter) or actual mouse clicking.

For example, even in the new version containing the "fixes", if you type in Wolfgang Paul and hit enter, if your mouse happens to be hovering over Wolfgang Pauli, it will go to Pauli, not Paul. I shouldn't have to move my mouse out of the way if I've already typed the full text of what I'm searching for.


 * It's another aspect of this bug. See comments #13, point 5 and comment #16. It is now fixed (see comment #17). You can test it here. Thanks. 122.26.84.216 (talk) 22:36, 25 June 2010 (UTC)


 * It is hard to express how happy I am to see this being addressed. Yes, YES the prototype version fixes the intolerable behavior of the new search box.  Please deploy this ASAP and Thank you!  Allenc28 (talk) 22:16, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Yep, a very annoying bug. So glad it's fixed! SharkD   Talk  20:42, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Search box on the right vs left side
It is more natural to read something that align along the left edge for l2r languages, while it is easier if it aligns on the right for r2l languages. At the same time the search terms in the results needs sufficient space, and it is easier to expandt to the right for l2r languages - and oposite for l2r languages. Usually you will write few letters in the search box and have long strings in the result box. In all the position to the left is better and gives a lot more natural interaction. Hacking around the problem with the current solution isn't very wise. Jeblad (talk) 19:48, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Rewamping tabs, menus and portlets
I would like the search box moved back to the left column and instead added some code to rewamp the menu and tabs so entries are moved out of p-cactions menu and into p-views tabs as the widt of the page shrinks and expands. This kind of functionality should be expanded to move the portlets in the left margin from the current position and attached as menus on the top of the page if the width shrinks sufficently. This will make the same user interface usable from very wide screens to rather small mobile devices. Jeblad (talk) 19:55, 30 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Works on tabs on top of page, just not as aggressively as I want. Preferably the drop down menu should also swallow the subject and talk tab in addition to watch history and edit. The read tab should be silently dropped when the space is tight. Left menu isn't rewamped, but should also be rewamped as drop down menus. The logo should also change to a minimalistic version, perhaps only become a "W". Jeblad (talk) 10:47, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Search problems at no.wp
At no.wp the search results seems to be a bit funny. Searching for "reinli s", short for no:Reinli stavkirke aka Reinli stave church creates a result "Reinli (tavkirke". Searching for "reinli" detects the correct name. Checking with Spesial:Prefiksindeks/Reinli_( turn up only one entry, "Reinli (Sør-Aurdal)". Jeblad (talk) 19:28, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Accessible Use - Blind, Text Browsers
It is now impossible to use Wikipedia because with a text browser, like Emacspeak, w3m etc. there is no button for the search box - it just isn't there any more. Here is a WAVE report of the English Home Page.

Text browsers such as w3 w3m lynx links2 elinks are used by unsighted users to see the page with a program like espeak or a screen reader such as jaws to read the page outloud. One such distribution that might be useful to see the accessibility of Wikipedia would be Vinux a accessible Linux Live CD based on Ubuntu. The DVD version of Vinux 3.0 is the one recommended for most. 63.209.225.189 (talk) 22:51, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps Wikipedia.org should detect a text browser and send these browsers to a simplified page? —Preceding signed comment added by Djringjr (talk • contribs) 19:15, 2 July 2010 (UTC)


 * ...or perhaps Wikipedia developers should learn about web accessibility and test for it before rolling out such massive changes? Truly amazing, what a bunch of incompetent hooligans. 122.25.219.178 (talk) 12:54, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

double-click
Why do I have to double-click in the search box to initiate a search when single-clicking sufficed before? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Greenwoodpecker (talk • contribs) 00:05, 4 July 2010 (UTC)


 * I've noticed this problem recently as well. I'm using IE 8.0.  --Lasunncty (talk) 09:02, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Turned off new features
I am not against improvements. I am against totally rearranging things for no actual good reason. I don't fully know the process of Wikipedia yet, nor if feed-back is followed up on, but I turned off "new features" because the search bar was moved. My vote would be to move the search box back where it is more accessible, easy to use, and in a place of prominence. It appears that a consensus is the same suggestion. Otr500 (talk) 00:16, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

old layout is better
I found the new layout Infuriating to say the least with the search box in the WRONG place. It seems odd that the 8 people ( all American (?)) who participated in the survey liked the new layout yet everyone here seems to agree that the old layout is better. Sorry, did I say better? I meant to say the box was in the only sensible place it could possibly be. Guys, you had it right and now it is just plain RUBBISH... I mean, why on earth did you change it? it doesn't make sense to me. Unless Arabic is your language, you read from left to right. When you open history, search or favourites in windows explorer it appears as a column on the left by default. When you type in an address bar, even if it is stretched across the entire screen you still start on the left. When the webpage is wider than the screen ( whether due to a badly designed website or because the window is not maximised, it is the left side which is visible before scrolling. When you open a book where do you look first? Even if you are not actually READING, when the eye sees anything with text it looks to the LEFT first ..... and then hunts around the badly designed webpage wondering just where in the HELL some idiot has put the search box. surely logic alone would dictate wikipedia had things right in the original format even before you recieved the barrage of complaints ?

One user suggested that people would 'soon get used to' the new box. Of course he is perfectly correct. In much the same way as a person stranded in the desert will soon get used to dying of thirst, i.e. when there is no choice in the matter. The fact that people will get used to it does not (imo) serve as a valid argument to keep it there when there is no need for it to have been moved in the first place.

I agree with those who are insisting that the search box is the most important part of wiki. But I do not agree with the suggestion to make it wider, it's fine like that ( old ) It's not as if the box limits how many letters you can type in, the first word just moves out of view so you can still see what youre typing. No problems there.

Another user suggested a scrolling box... Hmmmm.. not sure about that one, might be irritating. Will be irritating. Perhaps its just me, but I find websites with scrolling things annoying to the extreme. Is it really such an inconvenience to scroll back up? Especially if you have a button wheel mouse. You could have "top" links situated every 3/4 page heights down the space on the left instead perhaps?? But please dont put in a flashy gimmicky scrolling search box.

I suspect the argument to have a scrolling box, or to move the box down is well intentioned but unnecessary - (If you move it down it will no longer be in the top left - where it should be) I, too have wiki as my home page ( set to random page ) and I too use the search first every time I use wiki. But I rarely use the search box while using wiki, rather I use the blue links and the mouse forward and back buttons (5 button mouse) to navigate whilst researching my topic. When I do need to use search again for a complete change of subject, I scroll back up to the box, it's no hardship, in fact it is ( was ) perfect!

All in all, it seems silly to read complaints that people need to scroll up when fed up of reading an article - What next? Demands for an update that reads your mind so you do not have to take the trouble to press keys? Although for articles read to the end It would be a nice touch to have a "top" link at the bottom of the page.

Incidentally, I also found wikipedia runs s l o w  on my PC in the new form. Slow to the point of completely unacceptable to be honest. why is this? are there bugs? or is this due to the design of the page requiring more processor power on older PC's ? In any case that is just one more reason to ditch the new features. Admittedly, I do not edit pages or create articles so I accept most of the new features apply only to those who do and I cannot comment on any improvements or otherwise in that respect. But for me and I suspect many others who are reading and searching I do not think the new look is good. And just how many '000s of people are not registered or cannot be bothered to write about this I wonder? A big thumbs down to Wikipedia for their efforts on this one I'm afraid.Hicon (talk) 23:24, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Cursor should be already active BY DEFAULT inside the Search Box when you land on a page
I find that you virtually always want to do one of two things once you are on a page: (1) Search (using the Search Box (SB)) (2) Read the article (by using the Pg Dn or down arrow keys)

However, unlike reading/moving down the article which, requiring only the use of keys already active (i.e., the Pg Dn and down arrow keys), can be done without the use of the mouse, searching using the SB requires you to (1) move the mouse and (2) left-click on the SB before you can start typing the text to search for. This is unnecesary extra work. Since the keyboard alphanumeric keys are not active (that is, they ARE disabled) in this mode, it would not hurt anything to enable typing into the SB as a BY DEFAULT feature when you are in the article read mode. The only disadvantage I see is that by enabling typing into the SB by default, you also disable the arrow and Pg Up/Dn keys necessary to move up/down to read the article. However, this should not be a problem because, in my experience, most people read articles using the mouse to move down the bar on the right of the article's window, not the keyboard.

Finally, since you must always use the mouse to choose between the Article, Discussion, Read, Edit, and View History tabs, activating typing into the SB by default has no effect on how users have been accessing those tabs, and thus, access to such areas is not impacted if SB typing was enabled by default as a new feature.

My name is Mercy11 (talk) and I approve this message.


 * I agree. Also put the search box back on the left Yosy (talk) 22:54, 25 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Please note that there is already a keyboard shortcut for "Find". It's ALT+SHIFT+F. I would not be happy about this change because it would absorb the BACKSPACE key - which instructs the browser to go back one page. 205.228.108.58 (talk) 08:02, 3 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Hummmm, interesting...But I still don't like it. Zero keys are better than 3 keys. Besides, you can always backspace with the browser back arrow key, which is what 99% of people do. Thanks for the shortcut anyway, as it would come handy if my mouse were to die. My name is Mercy11 (talk) 21:35, 3 August 2010 (UTC) and I approve this message.
 * Focus on the search box is a common suggestion but almost definitely isn't happening since it ruins keyboard navigation of all forms as you have already acknowledged. See also FAQ/Main Page Nil Einne (talk) 19:39, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

I need ¨Send this page to a Friend¨
hi guys I want to ask if there is chance to add ¨e-mail this page to a friend¨ option. I think it´s really useful for getting access to the specific articale by sending it to your friends or other persons. and please let me know if this option available here on Wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Imx2 (talk • contribs) 17:05, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Search Box no. 2
First I wanted to add my comment under other (already existing) entries, but then I saw that it's common here (i.e. all the others did it before me) to post a new one even though this particular topic was already discussed (i.e. the problem addressed) in other already existing sections.

Although I like pretty much everything else in the new layout, I simply must say (what many others have already mentioned/stressed) that I totally dislike the fact that search box was moved (from left) to the right side of pages.

As far as I know this is against all the usability principles/standards and above all it's simply not practical (as one other Wikipedian nicely said above, it's "out of the way" and in an inconvenient location), especially in case of a website such as an encyclopedia!

--Wayfarer (talk) 21:35, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Reliably reproducible bug with Search field and Browser "Back" button
I am using MS IE8 64-bit edition on Windows 7. Note, does not occur on Google Chrome.

From main page

1. Click on any link

2. From the new page, click on another link on the page

3. Use the browser "back" button.

Note that the word "search" is no longer greyed out and does not disappear when you move the text cursor to the search field. You must now remove the word "search" or it will append to your search text. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pmarshal (talk • contribs) 19:10, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Reported this on Bugzilla Pmarshal (talk) 13:06, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Search box searches for "Search"
The search box searches for the word "Search" every single time I type something into it, regardless of whether I press ENTER or click on an auto-complete suggestion. Once it shows that no results were found I have to type in my search again in order for it to yield anything. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MeganLindsay (talk • contribs) 15:49, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

The Search Bar is still inconveniently located
The Search Bar is still inconveniently located. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.9.44.151 (talk) 16:10, 12 August 2014 (UTC)