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Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

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Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#131

Post by thrashh »

3np wrote: post #44
rosseloh wrote: post #35

On phone support calls I usually can't even get people who know what a URL, URL bar, or even a search bar, is in the first place. "The box at the top where you type in websites you want to go to." "What are you talking about? I'm computer illiterate, I can't learn any of this fancy tech stuff. I just click my facebook icon and it comes up!" These people get all sorts of confused when something happens in their browse…

> I'm computer illiterate, I can't learn any of this fancy tech stuff. This learned helplessness scares me a bit. It's like the willingness to comprehend stops at "tap". "What are you talking about, 'steering wheel'?! I'm not a greasemonkey, are you talking about the thing I turn to make the car turn?" Not knowing is one thing, refusing to take in any new knowledge is another.

Pretty much everyone is like this somewhere though. Not many people eagerly learn in every domain.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#133

Post by denton-scratch »

baktubi wrote: post #88
rosseloh wrote: post #35

On phone support calls I usually can't even get people who know what a URL, URL bar, or even a search bar, is in the first place. "The box at the top where you type in websites you want to go to." "What are you talking about? I'm computer illiterate, I can't learn any of this fancy tech stuff. I just click my facebook icon and it comes up!" These people get all sorts of confused when something happens in their browse…

The browser has a search bar at the top of the page; Amazon has a search bar at the top of the page. Ergo it’s actually bad UX design. Thinking desktop UX if that was an “Amazon app” there would be ONE singular search bar. To make matters worse, Windows has a search bar in start (usually at the bottom); browser has a search bar (at the top); some websites have their own search bar; file explorer has its own search ba…

> The browser has a search bar at the top of the page; Amazon has a search bar at the top of the page.

I assume this is deliberate. Amazon doesn't want you clicking on URLs that don't point to Amazon. A search bar that doesn't do an internet search, but looks like a browser search bar, would seem to fit the bill.

I believe Amazon will fade away, once that bald guy reaches the orbit of Saturn. It's basically just an online shop with low prices - I can't see any USP.

Incidentally, the combined URL-and-search bar (is that still called the "awesomebar"? It's not awesome) in my version of Firefox (93.0, running on Windows 10) doesn't actually let me search, unless I select a search engine. If I search for "red shoes", it tries to take me to "redshoes.com". If I search for "red doctor martens", it says it can't find a site with that name. I have to choose a search engine, even if I only have one search engine configured. I suppose I must have broken something.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#134

Post by freediver »

dhosek wrote: post #63
reayn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally think the reason was to further reduce the need to move your thumb from the bottom of the screen. The current iteration of safari is the only mobile browser I have ever used where I feel comfortable browsing and switching tabs with only one finger. It's surprisingly well implemented, though some actions (such as accessing history or site settings) take a couple extra taps.

The big challenge I have with this is that while the Safari bar is at the bottom, search within sites (say, Wikipedia) is still at the top. This ends up making it harder for me to redevelop muscle memory for searches/urls at the bottom

Position of address bar is an option you can change.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#135

Post by TeMPOraL »

david422 wrote: post #47
rosseloh wrote: post #35

On phone support calls I usually can't even get people who know what a URL, URL bar, or even a search bar, is in the first place. "The box at the top where you type in websites you want to go to." "What are you talking about? I'm computer illiterate, I can't learn any of this fancy tech stuff. I just click my facebook icon and it comes up!" These people get all sorts of confused when something happens in their browse…

This is my mom. Trying to walk her through steps on the phone like logins and lost passwords is a nightmare. I imagine it would be like a car mechanic trying to walk me through changing the oil over the phone. Since it's not in my interests, I just want it to work, I don't have any desire to learn it.

> I imagine it would be like a car mechanic trying to walk me through changing the oil over the phone. Since it's not in my interests, I just want it to work, I don't have any desire to learn it.

Really?

I don't believe there exists a task I theoretically could perform if I knew the steps, that I would be unable to do if those steps were being explained to me by an expert. Even if it was gardening or cooking (two areas I have extremely little interest in). In my mind, this very concept doesn't parse.

On the other hand, I do know people like this, and I hate helping others with computers over the phone.

I believe this has nothing to do with one's intelligence or familiarity. More like some kind of general intellectual or emotional "closedness" - an instinctive refusal to do things out of one's comfort zone, even if one is guided step-by-step, and refusing to take those steps causes a huge loss. I have no idea how this comes about, as it's totally alien to me, except that I see it in most people.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#136

Post by dylan604 »

coldpie wrote: post #123
dylan604 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My counter to that is that if you think you are submitting a URL to go to a website but instead that data is sent to 3rd party which allows them to continue their tracking of everything you do, then this is bad. Be upfront and clear with your users. If you are sending data to a 3rd party in a way that is not 100% obvious, then it's bad UI leaning towards dark patterns. If you are a UI dev and it never occurred to you…

I think you will find you are in a tiny minority. Most people don't care about that, and you have a long uphill battle to convince them they should, especially if they find this new experience more useful. Legislation may be a way to solve that problem, but we've long left discussing the URL bar at that point. Edit: Also I genuinely don't think collecting end-user data is the primary goal of the Chrome team with this…

So how is typing into the text field a full URL like 'example.com' and getting a search result better for the user than going to the damn url that was entered?

If I was actually wanting to search for information about the URL provided, then the result is expected. However, if I just want to go to the damn url, it is not useful at all. Now, in this unified input that you seem complacent with, how do I avoid the step of search results when I just want to view a specific website?

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#137

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

handrous wrote: post #125
jabroni_salad wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I promise you it is younger people too. I train bank workers from freshly minted tellers to longtime officers, none of them can navigate to a URL unless it is a clickable hyperlink. The URL is one of the most foundational elements of internet usage, it is the way to get directly to where you want to go. Having a map is nice, but don't you need to know how to walk in order to get where you are going? Heck, there have…

> Heck, there have recently been articles about STEM students that do not know how to work with a basic file directory. File directories, and the filesystem generally, confuse the hell out of the vast majority of computer users. We nerds forget this stuff because at age 12 we really gave a shit about it and took the time to internalize what it all means, and it's been second nature ever since, but most people haven't…

And it's limited to the systems we're exposed to. I grew up with DOS and then windows so I know file structure there no problem, but I'm still not comfortable with how Linux organizes things, and I haven't the faintest clue about Mac.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#138

Post by denton-scratch »

phkahler wrote: post #12

This is because Google and Microsoft have confused the users by allowing them to type whatever into wherever and they just figure it out. Some would call that good UI - probably myself included - but it teaches bad behavior and makes people dumber by obscuring what things really are.

> Some would call that good UI

Not me! Confusing the users was deliberate.

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#139

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

lnx01 wrote: post #126
HelixEndeavor wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As self-driving cars come closer to reality, I fear your hypothetical will eventually become a real conversation someone will have to unironically have.

I have no idea how to shoe a horse.

Did anyone complain when people stopped being able to use rotary phones?

Re: Every search bar looks like a URL bar to users

#140

Post by wffurr »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #89
JohnWhigham wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People get old and obstinate. It's sad but at the end of the day, they choose to be like this.

I promise you it is younger people too. I train bank workers from freshly minted tellers to longtime officers, none of them can navigate to a URL unless it is a clickable hyperlink. The URL is one of the most foundational elements of internet usage, it is the way to get directly to where you want to go. Having a map is nice, but don't you need to know how to walk in order to get where you are going? Heck, there have…

The transition to mobile computing devalued typing and greatly increased the attraction of icon grids.

There was some series of essays recently that I read (linked from HN maybe) that went into some details about the economic differences between search-based desktop computing and "juicy springboard of icons" mobile computing.

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