Re: Fwd: what is the reason for not making epiphany the default browser?

[Evandro Fernandes Giovanini <efgiovanini gmail com>]

Hello Reinout,

Em Sex, 2006-01-27 às 14:06 +0100, Reinout van Schouwen escreveu:
> Hi Evandro,
> 
> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, Evandro Fernandes Giovanini wrote:
> 
> > I think we should first try to make it easier to learn that the URL 
> > bar is also the search bar.
> 
> Do you have any suggestions to this effect? Not a rhetorical question, 
> but genuinely interested. What could be easier then just typing what 
> you're looking for and pressing enter? We already have a tooltip 
> explaining that.
> 

I have a few suggestions, though I'm not sure they're good ones.  :)

Maybe the widget for "Search the web" would look more like something you
can click on if it looked like other Gtk buttons. Something like a
button that says "Search the web" where the words "Search the web" are.

Also, because it appears below a few links in the History it might look
like "Search the web" is just another link (static like all others,
something like www.google.com instead of google for the terms entered).
This could be addressed by making the text change dynamically as the
user types. It would say something like:

Search the web for GNOM

Where GNOM is what the user entered and changes dynamically, as he types
the missing E for example. :)


I think the statusbar tooltip goes unnoticed for most people. An idea is
to write the tooltip on the bar itself, though that has problems like
going away when you click it. The bar would say something like "Type a
Web address or a search term here".
Maybe if the tooltip only goes away when you actually start typing it
wouldn't be a problem (if you started typing that means you know what to
do). I'm not sure if this is a good idea. I know Apple does something
like this in some places and usability experts have criticized them for
doing so.

> Would it perhaps be an idea to relabel the 'Go' button to 'Search', and 
> performing the same action when clicked as when the user had pressed 
> enter after entering keywords? Only when something that looks like a 
> valid URL was entered, the label would change to 'Go'.
> 
> I know, I know, changing button labels is generally not a good idea, but 
> maybe just in this case it could work...
> 
> regards,
> 

That might help. I have to admit I don't have the Go button on my
toolbar, and I also remove it for the people I setup with Epiphany. They
use the same setup as I do, with only the four navigation buttons, the
URL/search bar and the statusbar.
I never understood the purpose of the "Go" button. To be honest I think
it only serves to slow people down, as they might think they have to
click it instead of just typing 'Enter'.   

Hopefully this will help.

Cheers,
Evandro