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On the other hand, I despise this exact change in Firefox. When I want to search, I use the search bar. When I want to enter an address, I use the address bar.

On the other hand, I despise this exact change in Firefox. When I want to search, I use the search bar. When I want to enter an address, I use the address bar. I have a clear picture of what I want to do, and it is annoying to no end if the browser confuses one for the other. For example, by auto-completing a search term to a URL instead (see: computers don't know what users want). That's why I personally prefer the ability to make that choice explicitly. I get it, I'm not the kind of user this article is about. And maybe I'm just insufficiently exposed to the other paradigm to have become "fluent" in it. But I just wanted to point out that there definitely are users whose mental model differentiates search terms and URLs.

forgotpwd16 5y ago
In Firefox at least you can focus address bar for search with default engine with Ctrl-K or Ctrl-J.
- duckmysick 5y ago
  For anyone wondering why there's two shortcuts for the same action: > If you have enabled Emacs-style text editing shortcuts in GNOME, they will also work in Firefox. When an Emacs text editing shortcut conflicts with the default shortcuts (as occurs with Ctrl+K), the Emacs shortcut will take precedence if focus is inside a text box (which would include the address bar and search bar). In such cases you should use the alternate keyboard shortcut if one is listed below. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perform-firefox-tasks-quickly https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perf...
Adrig 5y ago
>For example, by auto-completing a search term to a URL instead Press space? Not every use case has to be addressed by UI elements, especially when we're talking about edge cases
- asdff 5y ago
  Especially considering if it really grinds your gears, you can have your search and address bar be discrete pretty trivially.
unethical_ban 5y ago
FYI in Firefox you can revert to the correct, two-box implementation by checking "Settings > Search" . You can get two boxes back, and you can turn off search suggestions in the address bar.
- wrycoder 5y ago
  Yeah, but I want that horizontal space to the right of the nav field for other things, so I configure to combine nav and search.
WorldMaker 5y ago
The power user thing in most "omnibars" that's been around for a long time at this point is that if you prefix search queries with a question mark ? you get an explicit search behavior (with your default search provider) and for instance auto-complete doesn't show recent URLs anymore. Firefox (and Edge; don't know about Chrome as I don't use it) still have the concept of "Search Keywords" that you can prefix searches with to get into search modes for against specific non-default search providers. For instance in the Firefox bar you can type @wikipedia and go directly to a Wikipedia Search mode.
climb_stealth 5y ago
Thank you for posting this! I agree. Address bar: I know what I want and I want it to only search in bookmarks and history. Search bar: I don't quite know what I want and I want to open an internet search for it. And possibly give suggestions from actual search results. Separating the address and search bars is the first thing I do when I set up a new Firefox. I hope it will stay around but I'm somewhat bracing myself for it to go away eventually.

forgotpwd16 5y ago

In Firefox at least you can focus address bar for search with default engine with Ctrl-K or Ctrl-J.

duckmysick 5y ago
For anyone wondering why there's two shortcuts for the same action: > If you have enabled Emacs-style text editing shortcuts in GNOME, they will also work in Firefox. When an Emacs text editing shortcut conflicts with the default shortcuts (as occurs with Ctrl+K), the Emacs shortcut will take precedence if focus is inside a text box (which would include the address bar and search bar). In such cases you should use the alternate keyboard shortcut if one is listed below. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perform-firefox-tasks-quickly https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perf...

Adrig 5y ago

>For example, by auto-completing a search term to a URL instead Press space? Not every use case has to be addressed by UI elements, especially when we're talking about edge cases

asdff 5y ago
Especially considering if it really grinds your gears, you can have your search and address bar be discrete pretty trivially.

unethical_ban 5y ago

FYI in Firefox you can revert to the correct, two-box implementation by checking "Settings > Search" . You can get two boxes back, and you can turn off search suggestions in the address bar.

wrycoder 5y ago
Yeah, but I want that horizontal space to the right of the nav field for other things, so I configure to combine nav and search.

WorldMaker 5y ago

The power user thing in most "omnibars" that's been around for a long time at this point is that if you prefix search queries with a question mark ? you get an explicit search behavior (with your default search provider) and for instance auto-complete doesn't show recent URLs anymore. Firefox (and Edge; don't know about Chrome as I don't use it) still have the concept of "Search Keywords" that you can prefix searches with to get into search modes for against specific non-default search providers. For instance in the Firefox bar you can type @wikipedia and go directly to a Wikipedia Search mode.

climb_stealth 5y ago

Thank you for posting this! I agree. Address bar: I know what I want and I want it to only search in bookmarks and history. Search bar: I don't quite know what I want and I want to open an internet search for it. And possibly give suggestions from actual search results. Separating the address and search bars is the first thing I do when I set up a new Firefox. I hope it will stay around but I'm somewhat bracing myself for it to go away eventually.