Topic on Help talk:Extension:AdvancedSearch

The change to a dropdown list, and selection, rather than the ready ability for checkboxes and a diversified and remembered range had me quickly turn off the advanced search. Maybe it is a familiarity with the system, however, the organised listing, and the ability to save, is a key feature of the search function for me. Also the ready ability to click them all off and then quickly re-add one ns for a targeted search, then return to my default is important to me on a daily basis. Clicking a few checkboxes is easy, having to repeatedly select from a closing dropdown list after each selection quickly got up my nose.

Hi @Billinghurst, thanks for letting us know your opinion! I have a few follow-up questions, so if you feel like giving more feedback ;)

> quickly re-add one ns for a targeted search, then return to my default is important to me on a daily basis

Would it be ok for you to share with us what your default is?

>having to repeatedly select from a closing dropdown list

Just fyi in AdvancedSearch you may also start typing the namespace name and the dropdown options reduce to what fits your entry. But I guess this is also not taking away your main pain point.

Would it help you if we improved the dropdown selection (so that you would only type a few letters and then hit enter)? Or do you usually not remember the namespace names, but rather the location in the checkbox grid?

Thanks again for reaching out to us!

Best,

Lea

@Lea Voget (WMDE) view my local search default for at phabricator:F11046124 numbers of namespaces, not a lot of talk usually, unless targeted. Fairly typical for 6-8 main wikis that I use, though obviously will be variation depending on the wiki. I might select project & help; I might look at modules, templates and help if looking for guidance of a template. Knowing that they have a standard positioning means three or four quick clicks and done, though I generally do know the names when working with English-language wikis.

I understand that I can adapt, though that does mean flicking from keyboard to mouse. Ctrl-clicking would be a means to approve so you can select multiples without list collapse.

I have similar mouse-centric habits and confusion/frustration with the dropdown list. I do use my memory of the locations in the checkboxes grid a lot.

First use-case: I'm often searching for something to do with a [person/keyword/prior-discussion], and my usual habit in the default interface is to click the "all" button, and then to de-select the Main/Main_talk namespaces at the content projects to exclude those pages, and to de-select the File/File_talk namespaces in order to exclude Commons image results. -- I know those checkboxes are the 1st/2nd and 7th/8th at every (?) wiki so I can click almost without thinking (no matter how narrow my window is), and I can easily find the options no matter what interface-language the wiki is showing me.

Second use-case: If I'm looking for technical documentation, I'll quickly select the Project/Mediawiki/Help/Template namespaces (and sometimes also their associated talk-namespaces) - in the default interface that is 4 (or 8) clicks with very short mouse-movements in between, but in the dropdown menu that is either a lot of typing or double the clicks with long movements in between. Keeping the dropdown menu open (if possible?) would help with the number of clicks, but not with the distance of movement.

If I'm a regular user on a wiki, I'll typically save this configuration as my default namespace selection, as that allows easy additions or removals to my usual locations. IIRC saving the search namespace preferences also forces the default interface to always show me the "advanced" pane for any site-search, which I like.

On a positive note, I love the popup information bubbles - very clear and helpful. :-)

Thanks for sharing! There are two things on our list right now to improve the necessity of so many clicks (phabricator:T173741 and phabricator:T181705 ), I hope that helps a bit! But thought process of how namespace search can ideally be supported has not finished yet either :)

I've been thinking about this more, and I realized that part of the confusion I'm having, is that 3 aspects have changed. All of these combine, to make it slightly more difficult to select or deselect entries. (All of which obviously needs to be balanced against the benefits for keyboard users :)

1. the visual change: from emphasizing the currently-selected entries with tick-marks, to deemphasizing them
   1. Which makes it harder to see which (singles or pairs) have already been selected.
2. the interface type change: the change from Checkboxes, to Dropdown menu
   1. which altered the locations causing the unavoidable mental/muscle-memory-pattern errors,
   2. and now requires scrolling to see/skim the whole list, whereas it previously easily fit within a small browser window.
3. the change in action-methods: from de-selecting an entry by simply clicking the checkbox OR text, to only being able to deselect by clicking the "X" in the tag for each (which are randomly located, not in a simple column)

For #1, I wonder if perhaps changing the visual indicator would help. From the current lighter grey-text and light-icon, to perhaps a background color for the whole row. Mockup at phab:F22315041 (before/after). --- [this was my main point & idea, but the post kept growing as I wrote it! Hopefully a helpful ramble. :-) ]