User:Auk/Search Model

The search box should be enhanced to enable some of the features of keyword bookmarks, such as simple variable URLs and quick engine-switching. The redundant appearance of keyword bookmarks and the search box search engines in the UI should be abolished. No connection with bookmarks should be kept.

Favicon drop-down

Click on the favicon at the left end of the search box. A drop-down menu appears with the layout:

Search Tagged Pages [Ctrl+?]
-----------------------------------------
Google [Ctrl+K]
Yahoo
Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Wikispecies
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Manage Engines...

Searching with engines

To search with a specific engine, you can:

1. Select an engine from the drop-down menu. Then, the engine's icon appears and the user may type thier query.
2. Type the appropriate key shortcut (hereafter reffered to as the engine-selector shortcut) (see according section), and a special meta-sub box appears. Type the said engine's keyword (e.g. g for Google, wp for Wikipedia, wkt for Wiktionary), a space, then your query. At the firt SPACE, the focus should shift from the meta-engine box to the search box proper.

define meta-engine box: a small text area appended to the left edge of the inside of the search box, perhaps distinguished by shading light gray (note not accessible to color impaired)

Engine Selector shortcut suggestions

• Ctrl+'
• Visitors add here.

Adding, deleting, and managing engines

The search engines should be completely organizable through the "Manage Engines..." dialog. 'Organizable' here means:

• Reorderable into a user-defined order (DnD)
• Creation of sub-directories, that show as sub menus in the drop-down
• Creation of seperators
• "Alphabetize" option
• Editable "Properties..." dialog, where the Name, Keyword, Icon, and Path (url w/ %s, JS file, ...?).

The Manage Engines dialog should also be accessible through the main prefs window, e.g. Edit → Preferences → Advanced → Search and amongst other things, a block with a button for the "Manage Engines..." dialog.

Advanced search dynamics

• Ability to combine engines in one search with the "+" operator, e.g. g+wp+wkt nitrogen would search both Google, Wikipedia and Wiktionary for the text "nitrogen". This would open a tab for each engine. (Depending on the user prefs, the first engine in the list may load in the present tab.)
• Perhaps JavaScript-enabled searches, to integrate with unyielding sites and create custom mini-search engines.
• Visitors add more here.

Gripes

• Should Ctrl-K simply focus the search box, or should it also swap to the current engine? (The latter would preserve the current "Web Search" paradigm.)
• Should the engine-selector shortcut be active from anywhere in the UI, or only once focused the search box?
• The current box is a little small to display both the meta-engine box and the query box as it is. Resize searchbar?