"options" for search not available in full-page

ux
1

In the search drop-down, you can click “options” to get a help page for advanced search.

This link does not exist in the full-page search, where you might expect it to be more useful. “I’m doing an important search so I’ll do it full-page. Oh, now what was the syntax for date filters? Let me just look it up…”

1 Like
2

Isn’t there a search help link?

I see it here on Meta.

And if you have search criteria, it shows at the very bottom of the list of results.

2 Likes
3

:blush: how embarrassing!

(although maybe a little consistency wouldn’t hurt?)

2 Likes
4

I like the idea of consistency. Options never felt right to me (in the search popup), because it is just a help page, not something like google has with drop-down menus and/or check boxes.

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/4209

Edit: So @codinghorror said the text was changed to options originally due to user feedback. I can’t find the previous discussion, so I am hoping he can share the original rationale for the change.

1 Like
5

OK, here is the previous discussion regarding the change in text:

So I still disagree with the word options. “Options” to me implies “click me to change the parameters of something” (in this case the search results). Here, “options” leads to a help page. The same help page that “Search help” leads to when clicked from the full page search.