I think I didn't explain well enough what the inconsistent would
be for. I'll explain by example. Evolution has a search field
that filters what you see in the header list. This search field
is not instant-apply. So let's say I do a search for "Malard"
in Evolution. I've misspelled "Mallard", and I don't get any
results. I go to the search field and type "Mallard" instead,
but I forget to hit Enter.
In this scenario, there is text in the search field, and the
header list is being filtered according to some search text.
But those two are not the same. The interface ought to convey
that to me.