Mailing List Archive

On ĵaŭ, 2003-01-02 at 07:14, Erik Moeller wrote:
> I have checked in a new feature that adds a "Go" button next to the
> "Search" button (default skin). By using this button, you can display a
> page directly instead of first searching for it and then following the
> link, e.g. you type "CIA", click "Go", and you are put directly on the
> CIA page. Quite handy if you have to jump between articles a lot.

Personally, I find the function to be non-obvious, and it clutters an
already cramped corner of the screen.

Thoughts?

I've put it on test.wikipedia.org so other people can try it out.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)

> On ?a?, 2003-01-02 at 07:14, Erik Moeller wrote:
>> I have checked in a new feature that adds a "Go" button next to the
>> "Search" button (default skin). By using this button, you can display a
>> page directly instead of first searching for it and then following the
>> link, e.g. you type "CIA", click "Go", and you are put directly on the
>> CIA page. Quite handy if you have to jump between articles a lot.

> Personally, I find the function to be non-obvious, and it clutters an
> already cramped corner of the screen.

It may not be entirely obvious, but it's one of those things that are easy
to explore, like the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Google. It might be
extended to run a normal search when there is no direct hit, and to do
some smarter case variations (e.g. if "Gone with the wind" doesn't exist,
try "Gone With the Wind", then "Gone With The Wind").

The "Go" is wrapped into the next line in some browsers, which is ugly. Is
there any reason why that table cell has a fixed pixel width?

Regards,

Erik

Brion Vibber <brion@pobox.com> writes:

> Personally, I find the function to be non-obvious, and it clutters an
> already cramped corner of the screen.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> I've put it on test.wikipedia.org so other people can try it out.

For my part, I really love this new feature, however I agree about the
cluttering. But the search box is put twice on every page (do we need this
really in terms of cluttering?), maybe it could
be added only to the search box at the bottom.

greetings,
elian
--
Wikikarma at http://www.wikpedia.org/wiki/Ijtihad

On dim, 2003-01-05 at 18:43, Erik Moeller wrote:
> > Personally, I find the function to be non-obvious, and it clutters an
> > already cramped corner of the screen.
>
> It may not be entirely obvious, but it's one of those things that are easy
> to explore, like the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Google.

Maybe I'm just timid, but I've never ever used Google's "I'm feeling
lucky" button. I didn't know what it did, couldn't guess it from the
name or context, didn't seem to be missing any search functionality by
skipping it, and I *never* feel lucky when it comes to mystery buttons
in software.

When I happened to come across an explanation of its function while
looking for unrelated things in the documentation, I wondered why anyone
would want such a thing... I'd _much_ rather see several options and
pick what I think looks best; I'm frequently looking for multiple
options or have something particular in mind but only vague search terms
that will probably not return my desired destination first.

And of course, if I do know _exactly_ where I'm going, I don't need the
search engine at all, as I can just type the URL into my browser.

> It might be
> extended to run a normal search when there is no direct hit, and to do
> some smarter case variations (e.g. if "Gone with the wind" doesn't exist,
> try "Gone With the Wind", then "Gone With The Wind").

Maybe...

> The "Go" is wrapped into the next line in some browsers, which is ugly. Is
> there any reason why that table cell has a fixed pixel width?

If I knew why anything in that header is the way it is, I'd be a much
more knowledgeable person. ;)

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)

> Maybe I'm just timid, but I've never ever used Google's "I'm feeling
> lucky" button. I didn't know what it did, couldn't guess it from the
> name or context, didn't seem to be missing any search functionality by
> skipping it, and I *never* feel lucky when it comes to mystery buttons
> in software.

Maybe, but it's also not the best analogy. Search vs. go [directly to this
page] is fairly straight-forward. It is more useful than "I'm feeling
lucky" because Wikipedia articles have unique identifiers.

Perhaps it should just be a user preference; let's wait for some more
feedback.

Regards,

Erik

On Thursday 02 January 2003 10:14, Erik Moeller wrote:
> I have checked in a new feature that adds a "Go" button next to the
> "Search" button (default skin). By using this button, you can display a
> page directly instead of first searching for it and then following the
> link, e.g. you type "CIA", click "Go", and you are put directly on the
> CIA page. Quite handy if you have to jump between articles a lot.
>
> Please let me know if there are any problems.

In Konqueror 3.0.99 it overstrikes the Wikipedia logo. That part didn't use to
without the Go button.

phma

On Don, 2003-01-09 at 02:44, Pierre Abbat wrote:
> On Thursday 02 January 2003 10:14, Erik Moeller wrote:
> > I have checked in a new feature that adds a "Go" button next to the
> > "Search" button (default skin). By using this button, you can display a
> > page directly instead of first searching for it and then following the
> > link, e.g. you type "CIA", click "Go", and you are put directly on the
> > CIA page. Quite handy if you have to jump between articles a lot.
> >
> > Please let me know if there are any problems.
>
> In Konqueror 3.0.99 it overstrikes the Wikipedia logo. That part didn't use to
> without the Go button.

Can't reproduce in Konqi 3.0.4. Are you referring to the other Go button
perhaps? The one next to the "Special pages" dropdown? That one gets
wrapped if the screen width is too small, and can overlap with the logo
at even smaller width. Note that I also increased the width of the
search box slightly.

What resolution are you using (browser window, not screen size)? If I go
below 640, the logo gets overwritten in Mozilla, too, but that was the
case before the Go button as well. If you use such a low resolution,
another skin really works better.

Regards,

Erik
--
FOKUS - Fraunhofer Insitute for Open Communication Systems
Project BerliOS - http://www.berlios.de