Re: [Usability] Gnome HIG suggestion: search box clear buttons

[Jacob Beauregard <jake13jake comcast net>]

On Monday 04 June 2007 18:11:08 Liam R E Quin wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-06-04 at 13:20 -0700, Kirk Bridger wrote:
> > I am hesitant to assume that most users connect the address bar of a
> > web browser with the actual displayed document.
>
> That's a good point - "most users" is always a difficult phrase...
>
> >   I wonder if most people just remember "Landing page addresses" and
> > the rest is just noise as they navigate through the various subpages
> > to get where they want to go.
>
> I think that would bear some careful study -- there has already been a
> lot of study in this area, though, and I don't think it's as clearcut
> as all that.  People do, for example, edit URLs in place, and I don't
> know of studies on this specific topic.
>
> > Flash sites really epitomize this kind of navigation
>
> Flash sites are often very broken and not a good thing to hold up
> as an example to follow.  Similarly with sites making heavy use
> of Frames and violating Web Architecture.
>
> What I was trying to suggest is that indicating when the search box,
> or the URL bar, corresponds to the displayed document/results, and
> when it doesn't, would in both cases be a good thing, and that it
> should be done in the same way in both places, and in any other
> similar places.
>
> If users have a fuzzy model, which they probably do in most cases,
> helping to make things clearer is not a bad thing :-)
>
> Best,
>
> Liam