[Restricting this to the design list, as design is what this is about]
Hi John,
If we add the ability to type commands that don't have anything to do with search in the search box, I think we shouldn't call it a search box. It's more like a command line, so maybe a "command box". Also, since it's like a command line, it would be handy if there were some way to search for "/mail", so maybe we should invoke all the usual command line quoting options.
Yup, it's often been called the command line in design documents, we just happened to implement search first.
Finally, while I think this may be a good "expert:" option, I suspect for most users it will cause more confusion than benefit. For my sensibility it violates the "simple things should be simple" rule by overloading searching (a simple idea) with complicated idea (the command line).
I think non-power-users will never use other drop down options, so this seems like a perfect application of the "simple things should be simple" credo.
Sincerely, Jeffrey _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design
