5 ms·

So, here is the thing. Modern browsers (at least Firefox and Chromium, haven't tried the others in a while) have AWESOME autocomplete widgets for their URL bars

So, here is the thing. Modern browsers (at least Firefox and Chromium, haven't tried the others in a while) have AWESOME autocomplete widgets for their URL bars. They incorporate multiple data sources (URLs and page titles from history, bookmarks, the search engine's keyword autocompletion, probably more), build statistical models (when I start typing "y" I want to go to Youtube 95% of the time, so suggest that first), don't clobber my paste buffer even though they pre-select some text, and so on. Awesome all around. Could we PLEASE get this exact same widget with pluggable data sources available as a HTML <input> element or similar? Every time I build a web app, I feel that the user experience could be so much better if I had such an awesome autocomplete widget available. None of the javascript implementations come even close.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
shorts_theory 8y ago
I agree, Firefox's Awesome Bar is the single best implementation of combining local and web results I have ever used. You can even set local results to appear at the top so the order of items doesn't jump around once the Google results are loaded and populated in the dropdown.
- sprt 8y ago
  Yup. 10 years later, Chrome doesn't even come close to Firefox's implementation.
  - xorcist 8y ago
    Don't worry, Firefox is sure to fix that in an update any time now.
no_gravity 8y ago
There are two problems with adding widgets to browsers: 1: Once they are in, you have to support them forever. Or you will break the few websites that use them. 2: Almost nobody uses them. Try 10 popular websites and chances are you will not see a single native dropdown. You might not even see something as simple as a native radio button. I think it's better to get the basics right instead of building more and more 'userland' type of functionality into the browser itself.
- perlgeek 8y ago
  > 2) Almost nobody uses them. Try 10 popular websites and chances are you will not see a single native dropdown. I'd argue that's because the native widgets haven't changed much since I've started using computers around 1994 (probably longer), and simply aren't up to the modern standards anymore. If there was a native widget that worked better than any of the current javascript-enhanced widget and could be styled to fit the website around it, lots of people would use it. Maybe not the top 50 web pages in world, but lots of developers with lower budgets would.
  - no_gravity 8y ago
    that's because the native widgets haven't changed much So why aren't they updated? If browser makers can't maintain something as simple as a radio button, they will probably not be able to maintain more complex widgets. Browser engines are already so complex that even a giant like Microsoft gave up on maintining one. And Firefox is spending over $200m in software development per year to keep up.
    - coldtea 8y ago
      >If browser makers can't maintain something as simple as a radio button, they will probably not be able to maintain more complex widgets. Who said they "can't maintain it"? They just wont, which is different. Besides, it is up to HTMLWG/W3C to expand on those widgets, and they have done nothing... >Browser engines are already so complex that even a giant like Microsoft gave up on maintining one. Not because of them having radio buttons and form controls. Those we had since Mosaic... Even Lynx supports those. It's all the other craziness (from 3D, to MIDI, to sound APIs, to 2-3 layout engines, to crazy CSS features).
      - hug 8y ago
        It’s not even that they won’t, it’s that the radio button doesn’t do the thing you want it to. The radio button works, perfectly, as much as it ever did. There are no issues, regressions, or any such thing. It is perfectly maintained as the exact UI element it should be.
thedufer 8y ago
The closest we have now is datalist[1], which acts as a data source that you can attach to a text input to give it autocomplete. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as fully-featured as it could be, possibly because no one uses it so there's no incentive to make it better (although Chrome's implementation has gotten markedly better over the past two years or so, mostly by fixing blatant bugs). [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/da...
- hiccuphippo 8y ago
  I've only used it with a static set of options, not pulling data from ajax and it's been awesome for that.
dstroot 8y ago
Brilliant
kgwxd 8y ago
Yes, fill the web with keyloggers. It's best for the users.
- tgb 8y ago
  It'd be your browser providing this. They already get all your keystrokes.
  - alexandercrohde 8y ago
    No mainstream browser sends arbitrary keystrokes back to their server. If such an autocomplete widget becomes HTML standard it should be done through client-side information only. Knowing chrome though, they'd want to tie it to your "sync" identity which already autocompletes passwords/cc.
    - tgb 8y ago
      I don't understand. Currently the website I'm on and the browser get access to all my keystrokes. The suggestion is to allow an <input> tab to let the browser take over and do its thing for suggesting autocompletes (whatever that is) instead of the website suggesting them. What's the novel security concern?
      - jessaustin 8y ago
        Perhaps parent has turned off javascript?
- perlgeek 8y ago
  Not more or less than a JS based autocomplete box does now. Possibly less, if more state is held locally.
dan-kwiat 8y ago
I agree they are great but isn't most of the work in fetching & sorting the data? I can't see how this would work as a general widget. In terms of the UI - I made a react component for showing dynamic suggestions (essentially a wrapper for downshift). And I've found the options out there for the sorting part quite good (e.g. match-sorter for sync or Elasticsearch completion suggester for async) https://dan-kwiat.github.io/filter-suggest/ https://dan-kwiat.github.io/filter-suggest/

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

shorts_theory 8y ago

I agree, Firefox's Awesome Bar is the single best implementation of combining local and web results I have ever used. You can even set local results to appear at the top so the order of items doesn't jump around once the Google results are loaded and populated in the dropdown.

sprt 8y ago
Yup. 10 years later, Chrome doesn't even come close to Firefox's implementation.
- xorcist 8y ago
  Don't worry, Firefox is sure to fix that in an update any time now.

no_gravity 8y ago

There are two problems with adding widgets to browsers: 1: Once they are in, you have to support them forever. Or you will break the few websites that use them. 2: Almost nobody uses them. Try 10 popular websites and chances are you will not see a single native dropdown. You might not even see something as simple as a native radio button. I think it's better to get the basics right instead of building more and more 'userland' type of functionality into the browser itself.

perlgeek 8y ago
> 2) Almost nobody uses them. Try 10 popular websites and chances are you will not see a single native dropdown. I'd argue that's because the native widgets haven't changed much since I've started using computers around 1994 (probably longer), and simply aren't up to the modern standards anymore. If there was a native widget that worked better than any of the current javascript-enhanced widget and could be styled to fit the website around it, lots of people would use it. Maybe not the top 50 web pages in world, but lots of developers with lower budgets would.
- no_gravity 8y ago
  that's because the native widgets haven't changed much So why aren't they updated? If browser makers can't maintain something as simple as a radio button, they will probably not be able to maintain more complex widgets. Browser engines are already so complex that even a giant like Microsoft gave up on maintining one. And Firefox is spending over $200m in software development per year to keep up.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >If browser makers can't maintain something as simple as a radio button, they will probably not be able to maintain more complex widgets. Who said they "can't maintain it"? They just wont, which is different. Besides, it is up to HTMLWG/W3C to expand on those widgets, and they have done nothing... >Browser engines are already so complex that even a giant like Microsoft gave up on maintining one. Not because of them having radio buttons and form controls. Those we had since Mosaic... Even Lynx supports those. It's all the other craziness (from 3D, to MIDI, to sound APIs, to 2-3 layout engines, to crazy CSS features).
    - hug 8y ago
      It’s not even that they won’t, it’s that the radio button doesn’t do the thing you want it to. The radio button works, perfectly, as much as it ever did. There are no issues, regressions, or any such thing. It is perfectly maintained as the exact UI element it should be.

thedufer 8y ago

The closest we have now is datalist[1], which acts as a data source that you can attach to a text input to give it autocomplete. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as fully-featured as it could be, possibly because no one uses it so there's no incentive to make it better (although Chrome's implementation has gotten markedly better over the past two years or so, mostly by fixing blatant bugs). [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/da...

hiccuphippo 8y ago
I've only used it with a static set of options, not pulling data from ajax and it's been awesome for that.

dstroot 8y ago

Brilliant

kgwxd 8y ago

Yes, fill the web with keyloggers. It's best for the users.

tgb 8y ago
It'd be your browser providing this. They already get all your keystrokes.
- alexandercrohde 8y ago
  No mainstream browser sends arbitrary keystrokes back to their server. If such an autocomplete widget becomes HTML standard it should be done through client-side information only. Knowing chrome though, they'd want to tie it to your "sync" identity which already autocompletes passwords/cc.
  - tgb 8y ago
    I don't understand. Currently the website I'm on and the browser get access to all my keystrokes. The suggestion is to allow an <input> tab to let the browser take over and do its thing for suggesting autocompletes (whatever that is) instead of the website suggesting them. What's the novel security concern?
    - jessaustin 8y ago
      Perhaps parent has turned off javascript?
perlgeek 8y ago
Not more or less than a JS based autocomplete box does now. Possibly less, if more state is held locally.

dan-kwiat 8y ago

I agree they are great but isn't most of the work in fetching & sorting the data? I can't see how this would work as a general widget. In terms of the UI - I made a react component for showing dynamic suggestions (essentially a wrapper for downshift). And I've found the options out there for the sorting part quite good (e.g. match-sorter for sync or Elasticsearch completion suggester for async) https://dan-kwiat.github.io/filter-suggest/ https://dan-kwiat.github.io/filter-suggest/