Last modified: 2014-08-14 22:04:46 UTC
On en.m.wikipedia.org the "Search" button is pretty clearly labeled, but it's possible that users on lower-JS devices may not realize that the thing to the left of the "Search" button is an <input> field. It seems on some devices (e.g., Opera Mini) the placeholder text doesn't show, and the nonconventional border for the search field may not suggest to the user where to go next. As an aside, for devices with higher levels of JavaScript support, should the search field have an embossed magnifying glass button on the right like most other search engines do for the purpose of invoking fulltext search (suggesting the "x" clear button would need to slide left)? Alternatively, should the "Search within pages" field below the search field (which does fulltext search)d be "Search entire site" with a magnifying glass next to it for the usual visual indicator?
Prioritization and scheduling of this bug is tracked on Trello card https://trello.com/c/ZjBj0pe2
I'm not convinced. I think changing the search button to a search icon should be enough (see bug 63701). The placeholder reinforces it is a search but I doubt helps discoverability. The only way to add placeholder support to Opera Mini would be to enable JavaScript mode which we currently have no plans to do... we just haven't got the bandwidth.
