User:Quiddity/highlight search box

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[edit] Highlight search box

Final suggestions at bottom of section

A proposal that came out the Main Page Redesign discussions was:

• Improve visibility of the left-nav search box, with an orange-colored border (as used on the active tabs at the top).

This would be to aid new users in finding the search box. (a frequent complaint at WP:SEARCH)

this is easily shown by adding one of these lines to your user:username/monobook.css.

#searchBody {border-color: #FABD23;}
#searchBody {border-color:#0000CD;}
#searchBody {background-color:#F7F7DF;}

The proposal was initially offered as an alternative to a second search box that was appearing in the headers of many redesign-drafts. (links to discussion archives: 1 - 2 - 3 (main discussion) 4 (vote and three colour examples))

It is possible to code this highlight to only display on chosen pages.

3 questions:

• Does anyone disagree with this plan in general?

• Which pages should the highlight be displayed on?

• just the Main Page
• All Help/Community pages (+ Main Page)
• All pages.
• other.

• What color? (we can shade the background or the border)

thanks. --Quiddity 19:25, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

This is a bad idea. It looks utterly horrendous. It's a horrid mismatch of styles. By all means make the search box more prominent, but this is not the way to do it. It doesn't fit in with the overall site design at all. The colours are not just randomly applied. They are semantic, and this box is not part of the group with the orange borders. I'm all for making Wikipedia easy to browse, but not at the expense of making it ugly to the extent that it's unpleasant to browse. Sam Korn ^(smoddy) 19:35, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

The colour used is changeable. Do you like any of the other colour options, or have one to suggest? --Quiddity

To be honest, I think using colour is not the right way to achieve this. I don't know what is, though I support highlighting it in principle. I think consistent site design is very important and lends a sophisticated, integrated feel to the encyclopaedia, rather than a slip-shod mess of styles. Sam Korn ^(smoddy) 22:57, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Strong Support. with a very weak preference for on just the Main Page, and orange as on tabs (and in example). --Quiddity 19:55, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

I like it too, as long as it is the same shade of orange used on highlighted tabs. Ideally, it should be pushed up, to be above the navigation bar, but I don't know if that will happen anytime soon. Titoxd^{(?!? - help us)} 06:36, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

That was another suggestion we talked about during the redesign. The main objection was that the search box breaks up the boxes of test in the nav bar, in a useful way visually.

A third suggestion was retitling the box to be "find" instead of "search", as search is the label of the secondary button, and hence confusing. I think both are worth discussing some more. --Quiddity 06:54, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Strong Support moving the search to the top, or setting the border to the orange of the tabs. On all pages. Orange is a highlight, and does not indicate "you are here" (indicated by bold text, and the missing border-bottom on the tab). It is not out of place in the current style. The blue border looks terrible and the yellow background is indistinguishable. Those two options should be removed. The border should be set for all pages. While it may not be perfectly appealing, it is of great benefit to the new user. As for moving the search box, I recall the top right as the correct position, but perhaps not appropriate here. I can't disagree more with the opinion that the search provides a "good seperator" between the two boxes. Moving it to the top makes the leftnav look much more uniform, much less scrambled. A related point I'd like to bring up is the severe error of bolding the "Go" button when it is not the default action of that form.–M^T 15:05, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Strong support: Just love the concept, what else is there to say. Should be orange and on all pages. –Tutmøsis · (Msg Me) 22:13, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Strong Oppose. The argument against a search box in the body of the Main Page was the possibility of the newcomers becoming reliant on it and not seeing the one to the left. By putting that here, you eliminate that. but there was another concern, not brought up as much but still mentioned: "What makes this search box different from all the other search boxes? Will it search off this site and the others won't? Will it bring up things using Google and the other's won't? Why is it highlighted?" And NO, we are NOT highlighting it on all of the pages. People see it. Do you see "Can I search your site for articles?"-type complaints from anons and new users? Please.--HereToHelp 22:21, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Talk:Main_Page#Search_Box_Location and Talk:Main_Page#Suggestion:_Removal_of_the_.22Search.22_box_caption. and Talk:Main_Page/Archive_59#Position_of_search and a cpl others i can't find. But i understand/agree that it might be confusing because of "Why is it highlighted here and not there, do they do something different?" concerns.

Frankly, i'm more in favour of raising it above the Nav box in the sidebar, than the highlight. Or just give it a darker-gray/black border instead of the orange.

It does tend to blend in/get ignored more than it needs to, so something needs to be tweaked. Somehow. :) --Quiddity 23:53, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

"[S]omething needs to be tweaked". I'm not sure it does. People see it. Like I said above, we are not flooded with "how can I search your site" complaints. I think it needs to stay where it is and divide the two sections of text. A slightly darker grey may also get some people wondering what's special about it, but not much. I'm still opposed to it, but not as much. Getting them to see it subconsciously is interesting, but still not necessary. If it's not broken, don't fix it.--HereToHelp 17:11, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

If the search box on only the main page is highlighted, nobody is going to think that it performs some special function that the other searches do not. Suggesting that is ridiculous. As is suggesting that a user can be competent enough to post a question, and yet is unable to spend the few seconds searching. This is clearly targetted towards uncommited users, and towards promoting the use of the search function. Imagine arriving at a site from google, and the page isn't what you were looking for - a prominent search box would prevent you from exiting. Perhaps you're interested in some other subject, but have found no good site yet. It's a very minor change for a minor/moderate gain. Constant users will quickly come to ignore the color, so that isn't an issue. Another point is that the seperation is a problem. When I first arrived, I didn't notice the toolbox at all. The languages box caught my eye, and I assumed that anything below such a prominent seperation was not relevant to me. Amusingly, the first times I uploaded a file, I had to repeatedly use the search box to get to a page that linked me to the correct one. But :moving the box up might be a different proposal. –M^T 14:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] final suggestion

My final suggestion: A darker gray border, that ever so slightly draws the eye. Change site-wide --Quiddity 22:54, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

What shade of gray exactly are you suggesting? --Aude (talk | contribs) 00:50, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

#searchBody {border-color: #444;}

At first I liked the idea of highlighting the search box with color, but less so as I've tried various options in my monobook.css. This particular shade of gray seems a bit too dark, as it makes the border around the search box seems busy to me with the search being lost in the chaos. I've tried several shades of gray. I found that actually a lighter shade than the present gray made the word "search" and the actual search box stand out a little more to me. Or the status quo is fine with me, or I'm still open to the idea of moving the search box above the navigation box. --Aude (talk | contribs) 14:06, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I like lighter too, say #searchBody {border-color: #ddd;}

I'm also in full favour of moving the box up to the top. I'll make a final screenshot, and minimize those at the top.--Quiddity 23:53, 20 April 2006 (UTC)