On 22. feb. 2012 21:47, John Lea wrote:
On 22/02/12 18:57, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen wrote:
On 02/22/2012 06:44 PM, supernova wrote:
Good evening (GMT+1).
When I have to launch a process, ie for example Process Manager, I
open the Dash by clicking on META key, write "proc" in the search form
and automatically the Dash filters all previous icons and search for
corresponding one: the Process Manager.
When I open the Dash later, i don't see all icons, but the string
"proc" is still there (filtering), and the only icon present is the
Process Manager one. At this point I have to delete that string and
all icons appear.
I think this slows down my work. In my opinion it could be more
performant if at the closing action of the Dash the search form was
automatically cleaned.
How does this slow down your work? As the search query is already
selected when you open the Dash, all you have to do to perform a
different search is type the new search query (there is no need to
delete anything). When text is selected, there is a very long
standing text handling design pattern where by the first letter typed
both deletes the existing query and replaces it with the new character.
The dash is now used for recent stuff. I think this changes the
situation with regards to saved searches. Because that change makes it a
lot more likely that you're looking for an overview of the recent stuff,
and not to search for anything specific. For instance, you may wish to
launch an application that is frequently used, but not frequent enough
to deserve being locked to the launcher. Or you're watching a series of
videos and you want to look up which video was last watched so you can
watch the next one. Or you're notified that a download has completed and
you want to open the most recent download.
All these are real scenarios, and I consider them to be more frequent
than wanting to expand on a previous search. In this case, you'll have
to clear the search field in order to get the overview you sought. Since
the search result update is not immediate, it's easy to think you need
to press enter after clearing the search field in order to see your
recent applications. If you do so, the dash closes, and you'll launch an
application that you quite likely didn't intend to launch. I consider
this a real usability issue. Particularly for the dash, which is now
mainly used for news, it makes little sense to require that the user
performs an un-search.
I've also noticed that it's sometimes not easy to notice what is
currently being displayed, particularly for long-lasting sessions. It'll
probably be less of an issue with short lived sessions, since you'll be
conscious of the specific context all the time. For instance, if I'm
working on a particular customer, it's obviously beneficial to keep that
customer in the search field so I can easily get to all relevant data
while I'm working on that customer. But when I come back after a long
weekend, that will not make as much sense. Just the other day, I was
about to file a bug about the files lens displaying incorrect results
when I noticed that I had searched for something the day before, and
that search was still being used, though I was in a completely different
context by then.
One suggestion; might it be a good idea to keep the search for x amount
of time and then clearing it? I mean, you're only in the search mindset
for a certain amount of time anyway. After that, the search becomes more
irrelevant. We are not keeping the searches between sessions, for
instance. Why should we keep them forever for long-lasting sessions? Or,
if we do keep them for long-lasting sessions, why should we not also
keep them between sessions? At the very least, this behavior has to be
consistent.
One of the key attributes of the Dash is that you can open it and just
start typing at any moment without having to do anything else.
Yes, but for recent stuff, you shouldn't be required to search at all.
This has become an important part of the dash, so I think keeping the
global search phrase deserves some new consideration. I do actually feel
it slows me down somewhat and requires a little more focus on my part.
For lenses, it might possibly make more sense, but it has to be more
obvious that you're displaying the results of an old search. This has
fooled me more than once. If you open a news page, you don't expect to
first get the news from the last time you visited the site and then
being able to navigate to todays news. You expect to get todays news
first and then possibly being able to find news you read before. Right?
The same is true for Google search. Though it is possible that I want to
expand upon a previous search, I would rather prefer it to be blank by
default. I should be able to easily get a list of previous searches if I
want to repeat a previous search, but when I need that, I'll look for it.
I am in favor of forgetting searches when the dash closes. It quite
simply requires too much consideration. If you've searched for something
that only returns one result, or a few, it's obvious. But if that search
returns a hundred results, the search phrase isn't easily noticed and
"Recent files" might display files you used six months ago. (That
happened to me yesterday and I was about to file a bug about it).
I don't think I've benefited from saved searches once. It has caused
problems more than once. Not a big deal for me. But if I can get the
erroneous impression that the results are wrong, then I guarantee many
users who are just getting to know Ubuntu, will experience this. It will
result in a loss of confidence, which is a very bad thing.
In my opinion, it is better to err on the side of caution, making sure
no-one will ever get the impression that the results are wrong. The risk
simply outweighs the benefits.
--
Jo-Erlend Schinstad
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