Browser search API

Hi!

Is there already any proposal for browser search API for searching
over displayed web pages? So that a webapp could know when user is
searching with a browser interface. I am imagining something where
browser would send an event with search string content whenever user
would modify search pattern. Because searching over the page is part
of the trusted UI, webapp should not have a way to interfere or set
search string content, but webapp should still know when searching is
happening.

This would be really useful for assuring search works as expected for
webapps which work with rich and special content. For example, Google
Docs would not have to hijack search shortcut to provide their own
search. And it would still work when user starts searching by enabling
it through browser menu entry and not through keyboard shortcut.

Another example is Mozilla pdf.js, a canvas based PDF rendering
library for the web. Because all content is rendered as canvas,
searching is a really unsatisfying experience. Their current approach
is same as Google Docs, they hijack search keyboard shortcut to
display their own search. And again, this makes users be confused if
they start searching through browser menu.

Not to mention that users using mobile devices probably never start
searching with keyboard shortcut.

So, is there a plan to standardize something like that? A simple event
which would be send every time user change string he or she is
searching for, or an empty string if search was cleared or closed.
Where should I turn to to propose such a standard?


Mitar

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Received on Saturday, 30 November 2013 08:05:20 UTC