# "options" for search not available in full-page

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721>\
**Category:** UX\
**Created:** [5 مايو 2016، 10:11ص UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721 "2016-05-05T10:11:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Newsom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tom_newsom/32/115981_2.png) [@Tom\_Newsom](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tom_Newsom)\
**Post date:** [5 مايو 2016، 10:11ص UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721/1 "2016-05-05T10:11:38Z")

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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…”

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**Author:** ![cpradio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/cpradio/32/4970_2.png) [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)\
**Post date:** [5 مايو 2016، 10:36ص UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721/2 "2016-05-05T10:36:25Z")

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Isn’t there a search help link?

I see it here on Meta.

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/5/1/516a4bcf79d667f332302da2ae7351ee163571d9.png)

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

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/6/d/6de28df3d9fd62ba628426d8f6cdd0335a013085.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tom\_Newsom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tom_newsom/32/115981_2.png) [@Tom\_Newsom](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tom_Newsom)\
**Post date:** [5 مايو 2016، 12:36م UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721/3 "2016-05-05T12:36:59Z")

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😊 how embarrassing!

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

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**Author:** ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)\
**Post date:** [5 مايو 2016، 5:46م UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721/4 "2016-05-05T17:46:17Z")

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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](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.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)\
**Post date:** [5 مايو 2016، 6:52م UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-for-search-not-available-in-full-page/43721/5 "2016-05-05T18:52:14Z")

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

> **[Sortable Search Results](https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/sortable-search-results/63878/3)**
>
> Thanks, how could I have missed that. 👺 Maybe “options” would be a better label. Buttons marked “help” are ubiquitous and totally unhelpful 90% of the time, thus easily overlooked. (Even more so since searches are so frequently sortable via...

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.