User:David Regev/Firefox Search, Revamped

Firefox Search, Revamped:
How to make Firefox’s search capabilities more helpful

The following is a workflow that I would like to see made possible in Firefox. The idea here is for Firefox to be as helpful as possible without getting in the way. The goal is to increase efficiency when searching (and, more importantly, finding). I am assuming Ubiquity is being used for conducting searches, as it is already far more efficient than the standard search mechanisms (such as the Search bar).

The Desired Workflow

1. Bob searches Google for [foo bar].
2. Bob clicks on one of the search results.
3. The following Magic happens:
1. The page scrolls down swiftly to the first instance of either foo or bar, placing said instance centred in the window.
2. All instances of foo and bar get highlighted, each term with its own colour (a la Google Cache).
3. The highlighting slowly fades away, returning the page to normal after 15 seconds or so. This allows Bob to concentrate on the information Firefox has now helped him locate more quickly.
4. Bob continues browsing, eventually clicking Back until he finds himself back at the search results page.
5. Bob middle-clicks on a different result, putting him in a new tab.
6. Magic occurs for the second time.
7. Bob brings up the Find dialogue with Ctrl+F.
8. The dialogue already has [foo bar] as its text.
9. Bob changes the text to ["foo bar"].
10. Magic occurs in the following manner:
1. Firefox conducts a lazy search on the phrase as one search term, ignoring punctuation and diacritics. E.g., even ‘foö, bár’ is matched.
2. The next occurrence of the phrase is centred and highlighted in the standard Find manner.
3. The standard Magic occurs on the phrase.
11. Bob switches back to the previous tab and brings up the find dialogue.
12. The find text still shows [foo bar] (since that text is tab-specific).
13. Bob conducts a navigational search on Wikipedia for [foobar].
14. Bob lands directly on the foobar page, bypassing any search results altogether. Magic does not occur.
15. Bob opens the Find dialogue, revealing [foobar] as it text.

Note how much is done to help Bob find what he seeks with as little extra work for him as possible, all without getting in the way of his goals. In order to make this workflow possible, certain features must be implemented.

The Desired Features

1. When one submits a search (whether via GET or POST), it should be detected automatically and the search text copied to the Find dialogue. See bug 270310 and bug 264123.
• This should occur only on submission, and not when the search results page is incidentally revisited (via Back/Forward).
• This should require no configuration.
• SearchBox Sync does this partially for the Search bar.
2. Whenever a search result is chosen, Magic occurs:
1. The page automatically starts scrolling down swiftly to the first instance of a search term, until that term is centred in the window. This scrolling may be interrupted by the user.
2. Every instance of the search terms is highlighted, each term a different colour. See bug 240432 and bug 342101.
3. This highlighting gradually fades away, with the fade taking approximately 15 seconds to complete.
• This should occur only on a search result link being clicked, not when a result page is incidentally revisited (via Back/Forward).
• This occurs only on the page after a search results page and not on any other page, nor after navigational searches (such as on Wikipedia).
3. When a Find is conducted, Magic also occurs.
• The next instance of the search terms (the standard find result) would be highlighted differently from the other instances.
• The fade begins only after the Find dialogue is no longer being used. It also resets whenever the text is modified.
4. Find should perform a lazy search:
1. Any term matches (like with a Google search), rather than the exact string being used. See bug 343118.
2. Phrases in quotes match only when together (as one term).
3. Punctuation and diacritics are always ignored, even in phrase searches. See bug 442070 and bug 202251.
4. This can be overridden by a strict mode that matches for the exact string in a case-sensitive manner. This mode replaces the current ‘Match case’ mode.
5. The Find text should be tab-specific (to retain search context). See bug 248955.
• A spawned tab, however, copies over its parent’s Find text.
6. Nice to have: Find’s ‘Highlight all’ should perform Magic.
• The next instance of a term is centred every time this function is executed (like ‘Find again’).
• A nice consequence of this is that ‘Highlight all’ would be less modal.
• SearchWP does this partially for the Search bar.
7. Nice to have: Double-clicking on a search term should centre the next instance of that term.
• SearchWP does something like this for the Search bar.