Better find on page

TheOtherKai

Currently, the Orion "find" menu is ridiculously thin and long. Can it be a bit shorter (horizontally) or fatter (vertically)?

Orion:

Safari: (same size image for scale)

Vlad

Our current thinking about this is to refactor find to be a part of the address bar

Fortrikka

I wouldn't want it to be a part of the address bar. I would suggest that it be embedded atop of the webpage until you scroll down, where it will be over the content, just like what Orion has always done, but make the find bar very slightly smaler by adding a few one more button such as this: This will make the bar a very bit less thin.

Also, that address bar find bar could be done, but there would be quite the issue when you implement compact tabs which is a highly requested feature.

Vlad

Fortrikka Not sure what the issue could be if find is in address bar with compact tabs. It would take as much space as in your mockup which would more then fit in a smaller address bar.

Fortrikka

Well over more thought since the main tab expands anyways in compact tabs the find bar will have enough space… it's just that most applications don't use the address bar as the find bar, they sometimes overlay it on the bottom left as an overlay such as sublime text or Google Chrome.

Vlad

Fortrikka If we were satisfied with what most browsers do, there would never be Orion ... 😉 To move things forward, sometimes you need to think differently.

Brin

Vlad I like this idea. I would like to see more contrast on the "find in page" part on the left to indicate that "find" mode is active and to more easily make out what text you are searching for. Maybe adding a box behind it, in the same style as the "1 of 6 matches" has would be nice.

Fortrikka

Find menu n'th number in list status.
Allow us to see what is the cardinal number status of that specific character combination in the entire webpage.
For exapmle, for the word "the" it is the 1st out of 39 "the" words.

Vlad

Fortrikka See where?

Fortrikka

Vlad Anywhere, just what number that item is in the website. For example, the word "the" is used 13 times on this page, and the previous "the" I used is the 14th out of 14th.

twingeofregret

Totally agree that this should not be part of the browser address bar. That's specifically for one thing only: changing the view of the current browser window (either by searching or putting in a URL). It will start to get messy from at UX perspective if you try to mash the find in page mode with the address bar. For one, it means the user has to figure out what mode they're in after they've searched within the page - am I in find in page mode, or can I type a URL and have it work?

There are very good reasons for keeping the two of these as separated UI elements and user confusion is a big one. Happy to go into more detail if needed.

Vlad

twingeofregret Isn't address bar used for search in Safari on iOS (dont have phone now to check?)

Fortrikka

Vlad Mobile operating systems while can be used as an example for certain small applications on desktop menus, does not make sense to reduce in size further for the sake of parity with mobile user interfaces when it leads to a reduction in total information received by the current user which is not either filler or redundant information brought about by means of usage of ancient UI standards or over-radicalized interfaces such as Apple's blunder with the touchbar and butterfly keyboard.

Vlad

I was disussing a UX pattern, whether address bar can be used for something else than URL or not. Since precendent has been made hopefully we can discuss further @twingeofregret

twingeofregret

Vlad Yes, but as I mentioned it's a search that changes the site you're looking at in the browser. It's an issue of scoping – the address bar changes the address you're looking at, the find-in-page search is just for the address you're currently on. It's a mental modal thing: users have been conditioned to understand what the address bar does, and mixing it with another modal will be really confusing.

Vlad

twingeofregret Perhaps if you try this interaction in a browser, it will not feel as odd.

This is the browser I originally saw it in:
https://github.com/azer/kaktus#download