- From: Adam Barth <w3c@adambarth.com>
- Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:38:08 -0700
- To: Olli@pettay.fi
- Cc: Olli Pettay <Olli.Pettay@helsinki.fi>, Tony Gentilcore <tonyg@chromium.org>, public-webapps@w3.org
[Re-sending to the correct list.] On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 2:34 PM, Olli Pettay <Olli.Pettay@helsinki.fi> wrote: > On 03/20/2011 01:36 AM, Tony Gentilcore wrote: >> Back in October I proposed the SearchBox API to the whatwg [1]. It >> enables "instant" style interaction between the user agent's search >> box and the default search provider's results page. > > When I tried instant search on Chrome, it did something only when > I was typing an url. It preloaded possibly right url before > I pressed enter. It didn't seem to utilize the coordinate > information of SearchBox API at all. (Perhaps I wasn't testing it correctly) > A browser could certainly preload pages similarly even > without the API. The "instant search" feature has a bunch of different components. One aspect is URL preloading, which happens when the browser thinks you're typing something "navigational" (like a URL) into the omnibox and is not related to the SearchBox API. Another aspect is what happens when the browser thinks you're tying something "search-like" (like potato) into the omnibox. In that case, the browser displays a search engine results page. > So, why does the search page need any data? The SearchBox API has a two-way flow of information between the search engine results page (SERP) and the browser's search field. (In Chrome's case, that's the omnibox, but it would work just as sensibly for browsers with a dedicated search box.) Essentially, the browser tells the SERP various information about what the user has typed in the search field (much like the web site would learn if the user typed into a text input field in the web site) and the SERP tells the browser some suggested completions for what the user has typed so far (e.g., so the browser can display those suggestions to the user). Additionally, the browser can tell the SERP about the geometry of the search field (if it overlaps the SERP), which lets the SERP move its UI out from underneath the search field, if desired. > Couldn't browser interact with the web search in the > background and show (and possibly preload) results the > way it wants to. That way there wouldn't be an API which > fits in to only one kind of UI. I wasn't involved in the design, but I suspect there are latency and synchronization challenges with that approach. Most modern browsers use that approach for showing search suggestions in their search fields today, but with this UI, it's important to synchronize the browser's search field with the SERP. Using JavaScript events to communicate removes some of the network latency. > I think I'm missing some of the reasoning for the API. > Could you perhaps clarify why Google ended up with such > API? As a general principle, Chrome shouldn't have an "special" integrations with google.com. For example, bing.com should be able to use any Chrome feature, and other browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, should be able to use any google.com feature. Now, the project doesn't always live up to that principle, but that's the reasoning behind implementing and specifying a general-purpose API. > Also, would be great to see some examples where all of > features of the API are being used. My understanding is that Google's SERP uses all the features of the API. Tony designed the API in coordination with the folks who work on Google's SERP. For example, if you enable the "instant" feature in Chrome and type "potato" in the omnibox, you should see similar search suggestions in the autocomplete dropdown as you'd see if you typed "potato" into the google.com search box (assuming you have Google set as your default search provider). Similarly, if you type a character, the SERP should react immediately to the "change" event instead of waiting for network latency. Finally, you'll notice that the autocomplete dropdown does not overlap with the search results because of the geometry information provided by the SearchBox API. Adam
Received on Sunday, 20 March 2011 23:39:11 UTC