What happened to the address bar in 11.60?

In 11.52 if you typed in the address bar you would get a drop down list of matching bookmarks and below that a list of history items. You would also get links under the different sections to expand them further as well as search. There were also bookmark and history icons beside each result to easily see what the item was. It's completely different now in 11.60 and not an improvement at all. Is this a bug or is it a new "feature" and is it possible to change it back to the way it worked in 11.52?

Originally posted by flansuse:

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Hello again:
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2012/02/08/addressfield-ui

comments welcome, preferably in the blog post.

I would have been testing and giving more feedback for these recent changes (as well as the snapshot released yesterday on March 3rd), but I have been going through some tough times in my life. I don't want you to think I am not grateful for the work you've done, and especially for acknowledging and listening to the users. I am so thankful, and excited to try out the new address bar soon! Just by skimming through the Desktop Team's blog posts, it looks like you've tackled the address bar issue in a very clever and creative way.

I might be able to give some feedback soon, depending on some circumstances. So I wrote this post out just so you know that I am thankful, and that even the users who seem silent are probably just as grateful.

Thanks for that feedback ! Good luck, and we are waiting for more evaluation on recent improvements. The work is still ongoing, so there is a chance that some nice ideas from the forum will be included.

These are awesome improvements.
Thanks Blazej for leading this.
However I still believe two rows display is superior, since there is plenty of vertical space available and there is no need to try to fit everything in single line.

Yeah, thanks a lot Blazej

Originally posted by OlegYch:

However I still believe two rows display is superior, since there is plenty of vertical space available and there is no need to try to fit everything in single line.

I agree... it would be terrific if you could bring back the two coloumn design by another option

Originally posted by OlegYch:

However I still believe two rows display is superior, since there is plenty of vertical space available and there is no need to try to fit everything in single line.

+1

And please provide – for those privacy-obsessed – an option not to show search suggestions unless a keyword is used.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Thanks for that feedback ! Good luck, and we are waiting for more evaluation on recent improvements. The work is still ongoing, so there is a chance that some nice ideas from the forum will be included.

I will post my feedback in here, since the blog comments are a mixture of "thanks" and numerous different bugs, which makes it hard to spot the ones that refer specifically to the address bar changes.

Here is what I think about build 12.00-1325. It's not as extensive as I would have liked to test it, but these are just my opinions, so I hope it helps to give you another perspective.



This is what I found worse than 11.52:
* Drop-down results are harder to read. There is no real consistency with the URL and the description alignment. With 11.52, the double-row results allowed the URL to always sit directly on top of the page title. My eyes can easily go through the results, without much strain. With 12.00-1325, the URL, page title, and content all sit in a single row, but each result has different widths for URL, page title, and content. My eyes must strain and move all over the place to find what I'm looking for. Not only this, the each single-row result has a bunch of text crammed inside. Even with a long address field, when I find text in the page content results, things can get really squished, to the point that I barely see anything. ***(See below for an example.) With 11.52, the double-row results have more "breathing room".

* The old 11.52 double-row results are still easier and faster to click, as explained earlier in this thread.

* The new single-row results don't take advantage of the fact that they use up less vertical space. The default number of results is still limited to only 6 results. With 11.52, even though more vertical space is taken up, I get just as many results presented to me. Why go with slimmer rows, but not take advantage of the extra vertical space that is being unused? Why not just stick with double-rows then? I am still confused about the decision to use single-row results. Like others have said, an option to enable the classic double-row results would be fantastic.



This is what I found good about 12.00-1325:
* I have changed my mind on this recently. I do think the lack of separation between favorites and history is a better approach. Some recent history items are more relevant than bookmarks. Many factors determine this, so it's good that the bookmarks are not grouped together above the history.

* The drop-down results appear to be more relevant in this build than previous builds. A page I visited minutes ago is now near the top (sometimes the very top) of my results when I type in certain key words. This turns up more relevant and recent results, even better than what 11.52 delivered. Hopefully this remains true, since I have noticed that Opera in the past has had trouble adding recent history items to the address field drop-down results.

* Favicons are back! YES! Enough said on that one. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

* Typing seems more responsive and faster than previous builds. This is only subjective though.



In summary, and remember, this is only my opinion, here is my thought on the new address field behavior:

The backend work, speed, and drop-down results combined with the look and practicality of double-row results would be the best of both worlds. You will notice that my disappointments with the new address field results centered around the limitations of single-row results. Everything else seems to be going in the right direction.



*** Here is an example, as mentioned earlier. If I type "shutting down" into the address field in build 12.00-1325, this is what I see:

linuxquestions.org/.../ - Where do you place shutd... | log out (without shutting down?) Thank you! (Running F...

Originally posted by OlegYch:

However I still believe two rows display is superior, since there is plenty of vertical space available and there is no need to try to fit everything in single line.

+1

I am always told that the Opera address bar and the Firefox address bar are the same, that Opera had it first, and so on. Nevertheless, I've noticed that Firefox simply gives me better results, making it really deserving of the Awesome Bar name.

When I type in a word, it orders the results by how many visits each page has, putting my most popular choices at the top. I have noticed that this is simply not the case in Opera. I frequent this forum a lot for example, and when I type in a word that is part of the URL or description, first come the Google search suggestions, then the second page of that forum, then the first page. Now why would the second page always be before the first when I barely ever go to the second page? Yes, the URLs are exactly the same with one ending in "1" and the other in "0" but that's inconvenient.

Secondly, you know how Facebook allows us to choose your own extension in the URL e.g. www.facebook.com/your.name? When I type in "your" or "name," nothing comes up, and I've been on Facebook multiple times. Typing the names of my friends, nothing comes up again. On Firefox, I can navigate straight to the pages of my friends with ease.

I haven't used Chrome or Maxthon in a while but I don't remember them being this clumsy with the address bar either. With Opera, it's a game of luck. "Will it suggest the page I desire when I type in this word or URL?" I've been to opera:config and have found nothing of use there either. As a fan of Opera who has converted a few people to the Opera browser, I would like to know if there is a way to improve the address bar myself or if Opera Software intends to improve it sometime soon because Opera Next doesn't seem to be any better when it comes to the address bar.

Originally posted by Phriend:

I am always told that the Opera address bar and the Firefox address bar are the same, that Opera had it first, and so on. Nevertheless, I've noticed that Firefox simply gives me better results, making it really deserving of the Awesome Bar name.

Opera's used to be better prior to 10.50 — better than Opera's 11.6x implementation, that is, not better than Fx at present. Opera 12 is returning to a more Opera 10.10-like addressbar, so hopefully it'll be decent.

Originally posted by Phriend:

When I type in a word, it orders the results by how many visits each page has, putting my most popular choices at the top. I have noticed that this is simply not the case in Opera. I frequent this forum a lot for example, and when I type in a word that is part of the URL or description, first come the Google search suggestions, then the second page of that forum, then the first page. Now why would the second page always be before the first when I barely ever go to the second page? Yes, the URLs are exactly the same with one ending in "1" and the other in "0" but that's inconvenient.

Worse than that, if you use autocomplete going to some URL on a site once will overwrite the URL that you visit 10 times a day.

Originally posted by Phriend:

I haven't used Chrome or Maxthon in a while but I don't remember them being this clumsy with the address bar either. With Opera, it's a game of luck. "Will it suggest the page I desire when I type in this word or URL?" I've been to opera:config and have found nothing of use there either. As a fan of Opera who has converted a few people to the Opera browser, I would like to know if there is a way to improve the address bar myself or if Opera Software intends to improve it sometime soon because Opera Next doesn't seem to be any better when it comes to the address bar.

I haven't really tried it; does it only look different then?

Originally posted by Rand:

It's a "feature" and there is no way to go back to how it worked previously. People were complaining throughout the beta about it.

Good to know that Opera listens to its users.

Originally posted by blaabjerg:

Couldn't agree more. I can't imagine why they thought putting search suggestions before visited pages/bookmarks in the dropdown was a good idea. Searches are generally used one time only, there's no need to put them in front of bookmarks I access every day.

Exactly! Makes no flipping sense. I don't want to turn them off either because I do use them, so Opera is really inconveniencing me here with the lack of options.

Originally posted by atharip:

Third, you made ordering of matching URLs “smart”. In quotes, because I've never seen it behave smartly. URL which I've visited once and never entered manually kept coming up first. And URL which I enter manually several times DAILY can be as low as 30th result and never come earlier. Is it that hard to list the URLs I enter manually first? Or is it considered an old-fashioned practice to enter URLs when I can just serach Google/page title in the history or something?


What do we have now? Unusable address bar, which doesn't list enough matches, which doesn't display enough text of URLs to distinguish them, which doesn't support Unicode, which doesn't list sections to search within, which greys out most part of the URL, which forces search for local computer names, which randomly orders matching URLs

How much worse can it get?

Maybe some people consider new address bar convenient, but I want OPTIONS. I want to customize things to fit my taste. Since all this happened with the address bar (that is, since Opera began replacing great unique features with stupid implementations from other browsers), I didn't see much options added.

I want OPTIONS.
OPTIONS!!!

...and maybe some bugs fixed. ...maybe even before release, not in a version like 11.60.138.

Exactly my issue. I am currently using Firefox as the address bar is simply superior. Add-ons give me even more power over it. Opera better fix what they screwed up or I'll continue to use another browser. Simple.

Originally posted by Frenzie:

Originally posted by Phriend:

I haven't used Chrome or Maxthon in a while but I don't remember them being this clumsy with the address bar either. With Opera, it's a game of luck. "Will it suggest the page I desire when I type in this word or URL?" I've been to opera:config and have found nothing of use there either. As a fan of Opera who has converted a few people to the Opera browser, I would like to know if there is a way to improve the address bar myself or if Opera Software intends to improve it sometime soon because Opera Next doesn't seem to be any better when it comes to the address bar.

I haven't really tried it; does it only look different then?

The issues I talked about remain. I just remembered another issue to boot. The Opera address bar is messy. When I type something into the address bar, some suggestions I see have the URL repeated in the section where the title/description normally is. Doesn't look good at all. Maybe I should start taking screenshots...

Thank you all for the feedback so far . More changes is yet to come. Please stay tuned.

I think you found an awesome solution for getting more space displaying only important parts of the URL in just one line (promising, I guess) and the order algorithm was really improved! Unfortunately I haven't been able to test because of lack of time but it looks good in my opinion...

Oh, I'm being open minded but at the end it looks like you're searching for solutions for a "problem" you have created yourselves with the one line approach. This is a hard useful vs. cleaner battle.

Originally posted by flansuse:

The new single-row results don't take advantage of the fact that they use up less vertical space. The default number of results is still limited to only 6 results.

If more results were displayed instantly it'd make a very polluted list "at first". It's "stuck" at few results (before pressing "more") for that reason.

I have feedback on the order algorithm...
They're bookmarked pages. When I type opera.com/m I get the results (blue is bold text in the UI, light blue is light bold):
1. my.opera.com/metude/blog/why-we-are-using-opera - metude - Why We Are Using Opera
2. opera.com/mobile/download/pc/ - Opera Mini & Opera Mobile - Download
3. etc...

There are many matches in the first result, being only one letter... I don't know if anything can be done about that as I see it might be useful in other cases, I don't know...

Hey, when I type "Opera Mobile" a lot of pages from the history that show no full matches appear and the opera.com/mobile/download/pc/ - Opera Mini & Opera Mobile - Download doesn't appear! When I type Opera Mini it does appear but if I type Opera Mini Download it doesn't...

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Originally posted by flansuse:
The new single-row results don't take advantage of the fact that they use up less vertical space. The default number of results is still limited to only 6 results.If more results were displayed instantly it'd make a very polluted list "at first". It's "stuck" at few results (before pressing "more") for that reason.

We are iterating over that. Maybe some updates will come in next snapshot.

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Hey, when I type "Opera Mobile" a lot of pages from the history that show no full matches appear and the opera.com/mobile/download/pc/ - Opera Mini & Opera Mobile - Download doesn't appear! When I type Opera Mini it does appear but if I type Opera Mini Download it doesn't...

Yeah, that's something we will look into. Thanks for notice.

Originally posted by Phriend:

Do you work for Opera? I

Yep.

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Hey, when I type "Opera Mobile" a lot of pages from the history that show no full matches appear and the opera.com/mobile/download/pc/ - Opera Mini & Opera Mobile - Download doesn't appear! When I type Opera Mini it does appear but if I type Opera Mini Download it doesn't...

It's fixed now.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Haha, I hope you aren't referring to that SPECIFIC case and trying to fool me.

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Haha, I hope you aren't referring to that SPECIFIC case and trying to fool me.

You should be able to see for yourself in about 2 weeks

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

You should be able to see for yourself in about 2 weeks

Open opera:config

uncheck "Addressbar Content Search"

save

restart opera

problem solved

Looks like content and title of https pages do not ever appear in addres bar completion (I have enabled cache for https pages).
This works fine in firefox.
For example visit google groups (e.g. https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/play-framework/_pfCFbAW2zU )

Originally posted by scottholtzapple:

uncheck "Addressbar Content Search"

Not useful, it disables the finding of pages via writing text of theirs content. (suggested before in that topic)

Originally posted by OlegYch:

Looks like content and title of https pages do not ever appear in addres bar completion (I have enabled cache for https pages).

Are you sure that CONTENT of https pages appear in Firefox? I really don't think so, as it would be security issue.

Sorry, I was wrong about content. But the title does appear in address bar, and I actually like to see the content as well (as long as I have cache for https enabled, or maybe some other setting).

Originally posted by OlegYch:

Sorry, I was wrong about content. But the title does appear in address bar, and I actually like to see the content as well (as long as I have cache for https enabled, or maybe some other setting).

Ok. Titles and the URLs of https pages should be working better in Opera's addressbar in next URL snapshot.

Thanks!

And something else I've noticed. When I'm at Google, I sometimes want to search the search page for a certain word. Unfortunately, the Google search takes keyboard input. Only Ctrl-F works. The same goes for "z" and "x" to navigate - fortunately Alt-left and Alt-right still work.

Is this an Opera problem of a Google problem?

Originally posted by hdhondt:

And something else I've noticed. When I'm at Google, I sometimes want to search the search page for a certain word. Unfortunately, the Google search takes keyboard input. Only Ctrl-F works. The same goes for "z" and "x" to navigate - fortunately Alt-left and Alt-right still work.

Is this an Opera problem of a Google problem?

I think that's intentional as 'Find inline' behaves like this in other pages which contain search field too. You can remap "." shortcut to Find instead of Find Inline, similar to any other shortcut.
(this is offtopic btw)

Originally posted by hdhondt:

And something else I've noticed. When I'm at Google, I sometimes want to search the search page for a certain word. Unfortunately, the Google search takes keyboard input. Only Ctrl-F works. The same goes for "z" and "x" to navigate - fortunately Alt-left and Alt-right still work.

Is this an Opera problem of a Google problem?

Hey, you're in the wrong place! This topic isn't about that. Anyway...
The problem is of neither. It's just that the Google search field has the focus so if you type it'll be in the text field (of course).

In Opera you can press F9 to put the focus in the "page" and use these single-key shortcuts normally again.

Has this been fixed in 11.62 yet?

Changes discussed here will be available for Opera 12.

Mod edit: Take sarcastic remarks and trolling elsewhere. Harassing Opera employees will get you banned.

I agree that having search suggestions first doesn't make sense. If I want to search Google, I'll type "g opera download"; I'd type "opera download" if I had an Opera download link bookmarked that I wanted. An academic example since I know the URL, but an example nonetheless.

Although admittedly it hasn't been driving me crazy.

Originally posted by hdhondt:

And something else I've noticed. When I'm at Google, I sometimes want to search the search page for a certain word. Unfortunately, the Google search takes keyboard input. Only Ctrl-F works. The same goes for "z" and "x" to navigate - fortunately Alt-left and Alt-right still work.

Is this an Opera problem of a Google problem?

Go into your Google account settings and disable Google Instant. Problem solved.

Although the F9 option is one I'll have to remember, could use that occasionally. Nice tip!

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

The problem is of neither. It's just that the Google search field has the focus so if you type it'll be in the text field (of course).

I disagree: it's Google problem by design. For one thing, pressing Esc doesn't deselect the text field: Google is apparently preventing that for some devious reason.

Mod edit: Off-topic comment removed. Continued violations of the rules will not be taken lightly.

Honestly, I wonder if opening the addressbar upto modification would not be a better solution.

On one hand, hiding the "dirty" parts of a url can often make said url worthless (the important parts are hidden) but then again, others might keep detailed bookmark names... still others might rely more on the url... others may rely on both... Scrolling / flashing text is difficult to "scan through", double lined again is difficult to scan AND takes up a large amount of screen estate... repeat ad nauseum.

I know it would not be an easy task; but it seems like there is quite a bit of struggling to get things right for everyone (which again, only leads to more changes and more experimenting... and more complaints XD)

There is another snapshot available:
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2012/04/10/next-address-field-adjustments?cid=87051892#comment87051892

We didn't managed to fix all the issues, but I hope some improvements will be noticed.

Unfortunately recent general stability and performance is not very impressive, but you still you can compare how the addressbar changes are progressing.

Thanks, these are very nice impovements.
But it seems that nor title nor content of this and similar pages https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/play-framework/_pfCFbAW2zU still do not appear in search results

Originally posted by OlegYch:

Thanks, these are very nice impovements.
But it seems that nor title nor content of this and similar pages https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/play-framework/_pfCFbAW2zU still do not appear in search results

The content is blocked by purpose, as it's https page. However the title should match, which is not the case, and looks like a bug, thanks for notice.

Can I hope to get an option to search in https as well? There is one for caching https after all.

Thanks a lot for the hard work and attention to the issues!
I played a little with the new snapshot right now...

The case I mentioned when I talked to you in my blog is still happening.
The track URLs I click on my e-mail are appearing before the articles (that is, if I search by "ars" in the address field). That's one thing I'll do less now that I can type part of the tile of the article ^^, but I imagine maybe the priority of pages with crazy codes like that can be lowered, they don't even have titles so that may be used as another parameter for the algorithm.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Note that if you don't like to see Google suggestions in front of other items in the dropdown, you might turn it off in the config

It still disables the search suggestions when you explicitly type in a keyword. And that's the only thing holding me in 11.52 now.

rafaelluik:
At least this is fixed from your list:
* The favicons of the pages aren't displayed anymore on the list, which causes identifying the pages

I would argue that this is fixed too:
* The history seems to be aways more prioritized than the bookmarks

In your particular use case, go to your arstechnica.com bookmark and give it a nickname "ars". You will no longer need to worry about any order of the dropdown, as just after providing "ars" in the addressfield and hitting enter you will see your favorite arstechnica.com site is being opened.

Yep it was just a lack of an update on my side!

I know I know, arstechnica.com seems to be already the first match. This is a different issue: I didn't meant I was trying to access arstechnica.com by typing ars, I said that by typing ars... it puts the tracking URLs (url) first than the actual articles' URLs (url). (Though now I'll be typing the title or subject of the article instead of searching this way due to the new better "detection") It's just an example.

i've started noticing that for some sites (e.g. facebook, linkedin) there are lots of meaningless entries in history http://gyazo.com/fc9112b69e29fa4ed0637b701895f8ba

and i can't even delete them, they appear again immediately

Originally posted by OlegYch:

i've started noticing that for some sites (e.g. facebook, linkedin) there are lots of meaningless entries in history http://gyazo.com/fc9112b69e29fa4ed0637b701895f8ba

and i can't even delete them, they appear again immediately

Thanks for notice, we will try to do something about it.

Perhaps slightly OT -- but nevertheless, here I know, the Pro ( = Blazej ) is reading:

What are the right (= new?) entries in skin.ini for the text colors in the Addressbar Dropdown for Domain, rest of URL, matched URL, Title and Content?

These described in http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/opera-skinning-part-4-skin-ini-element/ (btw. really old, is the a new reference?) are not working, at least in my skin.ini I have ...

[Address Dropdown Associated Label]
#Text Color           = #000000
Text Color           = #fbfbfb
Text Bold            = 1

[Address Dropdown Title Label]
#Text Color           = #586389
Text Color           = #fbfbfb

[Address Dropdown URL Label]
Padding Left         = 0
#Text Color           = #666666
Text Color           = #fbfbfb

... but most of the dropdown text is still in same dark gray colors, the only part which is bright is the rest of the URL -- hardly readable on dark background. (Screenshot: http://my.opera.com/mpresnitz/albums/showpic.dml?album=7387752&picture=155424572)

Is anyone else having this problem?
Thanks a lot -- every hint is appreciated.

Current skin excerpt:
[Address DropDown URL Label]
Padding Left = 0
Text Color = #7aA3CC
Link Color = #2c7aCC
Colorize = 0

Try playing with COLORIZE setting, also :

for a page excerpt we use TEXT COLOR from:
Address DropDown Suggestion Label

for the domain part of URL which we use LINK COLOR from:
Address DropDown URL Label

for other than domain part of URL which we use TEXT COLOR from:
Address DropDown URL Label

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Current skin excerpt:

Thanks a lot for this hint -- now it seems so obvious...

However, I finally got my bright font.

Another entry which is also important:
Address DropDown Suggestion Label

Hi Blazej and everybody!

The issue with pollution of address bar on sites like facebook is still very much annoying and makes it almost unusable...

And one new issue appeared in last few snapshots - if i visit url like https://twitter.com/#!/i/connect I don't see the part of address after # in address bar.

Lastly one old issue which started nagging me - if i enter e.g. webpay.bn.by and then webmail.itransition.com, every time i enter 'we' in address bar the webpay.bn.by address will be suggested, even though i visit it only once a month and the other one i visit several times a day. I think this should be prioritized by last recently used one.

Thanks, Oleg.

I'm saddened to say that the problems still exist in the final release of Opera 12.00. I am having more difficulty using the address field in this new version as opposed to version 11.52, which was easier on the eyes, less confusing, and less cluttered.

The description in this post still holds true for Opera 12.00 final: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/findpost.pl?id=11799032

I still get cramped up and cluttered results like this:

linuxquestions.org/.../ - Where do you place shutd... | log out (without shutting down?) Thank you! (Running F...

The above is what I see when I type "shutting down" in my address field. So much text is cut off. The distinction between the Title, URL, and description is too subtle. The single row results are harder to click on (smaller vertical space) and they take more time to make sense of.




This problem also still exists in the final release of Opera 12: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/findpost.pl?id=11501362

Here is Opera 12.00:





Here is Opera 11.52:




When using Opera 12.00, you may not know why typing in "japan" brings up the YouTube video. There is no indication of it. However, when using Opera 11.52, you clearly see that it is in the title of the page.

I guess since Opera 12.00 has been officially released, we have to wait until 12.10 or 12.50 for these issues to be fixed?

Still not going to upgrade my main computers til this is fixed

period

Jesus, really I am sure: the 11.52 addressbar was very better to find what you search.

flansuse, here is O 12, your Japan example:


Your screenshot claimed to be O12 is O11.6x, right?

PLEASE
BRING
BACK
TWO-LINES SEARCH RESULTS!

Pretty please at least provide it as an option!

I have a pivoted monitor and plenty of unused vertical space with not so much horizontal space, especially that extension icons make the address field even shorter. The new search pop-up tries to squeeze everything horizontally in this little space – this really doesn't make sense. The two-line layout was much more usable.

No proszę! :-)

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

flansuse, here is O 12, your Japan example:


Your screenshot claimed to be O12 is O11.6x, right?

No, my screenshot is indeed from 12.0X, not 11.6X. You will notice that you are using a wider address field than I am (you probably have a larger monitor.) I posted a screenshot from 12.0X and 11.5X to illustrate the limitations (and frustrations) of single-line results versus double-line results.

* Double-line results are much less likely to chop off relevant data.
* Double-line results are much less likely to show crammed and cluttered results.
* Double-line results have consistent placement, e.g, URL above Title, URL above Title, URL above Title. However, single-line results have inconsistent placement. Sometimes the URL is this long, and sometimes it is that long, sometimes the title is this long, and sometimes the title is that long, and nothing lines up perfectly, which causes the eyes to needlessly zig-zag and look all around. When the eyes look down through the results, the URL, Title, and Content fields are pushing each other around with different widths (different starting points and different end points.)

Opera 12.0X seems to list results a tiny bit faster, and it is also is more clever at sorting by priority and relevance, but the single-line results actually make it more difficult to use (and longer to click on the correct line), especially with smaller monitors.

Why not use the speed and under-the-hood improvements of 12.0X, yet the ease of use and consistency of double-line results? Or how about an option to use double-line results? Why was the decision made to switch to single-line results? What was the justification? When did the users demand that Opera begin using single-line results?


** Compare the size difference by visiting the direct links to the screenshots. You will see that your address field is wider.
Mine: http://files.myopera.com/flansuse/albums/10048272/auto-complete-1200.png
Yours: http://files.myopera.com/bkazmierczak/albums/12034572/japan.png

I also noticed that you enabled favicons. The irony. (I left the default options on mine, and the snapshot I was using did not have the favicons feature yet.) If an Opera developer is enabling favicons, maybe it should be the default option?

I should add a quick correction. The screenshot was of Opera 12.0X, but not the final release. (You will see earlier in this thread when I originally made the screenshots.) It appears there was a noteable change from an earlier build of 12.0X to the final release of 12.00. I did try the "japan" test again, and I noticed that it shows me the word "Japan" in the third column; an excerpt from the page description / content. However, this introduced yet another problem: Now the URL and Title columns are even more cut off. The page title, for me, appears as "Linus Torvalds and..."

Once again, this demonstrates the problem of crammed and squished single-line results.

The full title is:        Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 11.52:   Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 12.00:   Linus Torvalds and ... |

And it is squished in between the first (URL) and third (description / content) columns. Not to go away from the importance of double-line versus single-line, but since the word "Japan" is in the page title, why would it cut off the page title (second column) and show the word "Japan" in the third column?

In fact, in your own screenshot the page title is cut off, but not as badly as mine. And look at the third column (in your own screenshot.) It's confusing and makes little sense. It seems Opera is pulling random text from the page (even hidden text) and dumping them into the third colum. Just read it out: Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011 Nielsio Subskrybuj Subskry...

I know those are words for "Subscribe" and "Subscribed" but why are they on the address field results? Those are buttons and elements on the page (some hidden). They are not only confusing, but they are part of the reason why more important stuff (page title and URL) is getting squished and cut off. I understand that Opera 11.X also does the same thing, but it's less noticeable due to the cleaner, double-line results. The single-line results exaggerate these problems even further.

Originally posted by flansuse:

I also noticed that you enabled favicons. The irony.

- heh, we at Opera call it an option, or a setting. And yes, I like favicons in the addressbar.

I see your point regarding:

Originally posted by flansuse:

The full title is:        Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 11.52:   Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 12.00:   Linus Torvalds and ... |

..since the word "Japan" is in the page title, why would it cut off the page title (second column) and show the word "Japan" in the third column?..

This has been identified some time ago and is tracked currently as CORE-46318. I hope that the fix will be provided soon.

And I think I will repeat that one : sorry, there are no plans to switch for double lined version. However there are plans to utilize more screen for address dropdown.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Originally posted by flansuse:

I also noticed that you enabled favicons. The irony.

- heh, we at Opera call it an option, or a setting. And yes, I like favicons in the addressbar.

I see your point regarding:

Originally posted by flansuse:

The full title is:        Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 11.52:   Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman on 20 years of Linux @ LinuxCon Japan 2011
What I see in 12.00:   Linus Torvalds and ... |

This has been identified some time ago and is tracked currently as CORE-46318. I hope that the fix will be provided soon.

And I think I will repeat that one : sorry, there are no plans to switch for double lined version. However there are plans to utilize more screen for address dropdown.

What about icons/favicons in the address bar? when i type in a website all i see are gray stars for bookmarks and nothing else for history

Originally posted by masterg20:

What about icons/favicons in the address bar? when i type in a website all i see are gray stars for bookmarks and nothing else for history

Check this ON :
opera:config#UserPrefs|ShowFaviconsinAddressfield
remember to save changes, and restart your favorite browser;)

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Originally posted by masterg20:

What about icons/favicons in the address bar? when i type in a website all i see are gray stars for bookmarks and nothing else for history

Check this ON :
opera:config#UserPrefs|ShowFaviconsinAddressfield
remember to save changes, and restart your favorite browser;)

Now it wont show me my bookmarks (or atleast show me which ones are my bookmarks) . 11.52 was capable of showing me favicons and bookmarks

Originally posted by flansuse:

but since the word "Japan" is in the page title, why would it cut off the page title (second column) and show the word "Japan" in the third column?

Well, keep in mind there may be pages with the same title and different content containing the word in the content or not, and you may be looking for the one which has it on its content.

I don't care to know if a page is in my bookmarks or not *on the results* of the address field, do you really need to check it that often?

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

't care to know if a page is in my bookmar

yes actually. I have research websites that i have tagged as bookmarks that i check up to 8 times a day for info. I also peruse the site alot for other information but the places i need to check are bookmarked. when i type in the address, the place i need to be isn't always the last place i was and since they are all in the same domain they all have the same favicon and 90% same address

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Originally posted by flansuse:

but since the word "Japan" is in the page title, why would it cut off the page title (second column) and show the word "Japan" in the third column?

Well, keep in mind there may be pages with the same title and different content containing the word in the content or not, and you may be looking for the one which has it on its content.

Title should come before (and be prioritized over) content, especially when there are multiple hits. And the title column should not be squished if it contains a key word that the user is typing in, just because the page content happens to contain the same word. This becomes obvious with YouTube videos where the page title is always found within the page content (in the form of the video title.)

I read that double-lined results are not returning, but I cannot ignore the fact that they had fewer issues with squished, crammed, cluttered, and zig-zagged results. No matter how creative the workarounds are, they will always be workarounds to the limitations of single-line results.

I can even think of another creative workaround to single-line results: animated horizontal scrolling of text

Does it get around the issue of cutoff text? Sure does. Is it superior to double-lined results? Nope. Some would rightfully say it is not user-friendly.

I'm still on version 11.52, even now (mainly due to issues with 12.00 and Opera Link and nearly losing my data), but the address field is also another reason. I'll keep an eye on 12.XX updates.

Which ones are my bookmarks? I can't tell. 11.52 could tell me quite easily, why can't 12?

Originally posted by masterg20:

Which ones are my bookmarks? I can't tell. 11.52 could tell me quite easily, why can't 12?

Hi, if you are bookmarks fan, I have a tip for you. Nickname your favorite bookmarks in the bookmark manager, and then you will be able to very easy and fast navigate to the desired pages without even looking on what addressbar shows. You will only need to write "nick" and hit enter in the addressbar and there you go. However, if you like to still review the dropdown list, row presenting the bookmark will have nickname instead of the title, so you will notice the difference.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Originally posted by masterg20:

Which ones are my bookmarks? I can't tell. 11.52 could tell me quite easily, why can't 12?

Hi, if you are bookmarks fan, I have a tip for you. Nickname your favorite bookmarks in the bookmark manager, and then you will be able to very easy and fast navigate to the desired pages without even looking on what addressbar shows. You will only need to write "nick" and hit enter in the addressbar and there you go. However, if you like to still review the dropdown list, row presenting the bookmark will have nickname instead of the title, so you will notice the difference.

Just give me back my old address bar. There was nothing wrong with that, not a damn thing. Now you give me a broken piece of crap and tell me to fanangle it this way and that way to tell me its not so bad. I shouldn't have to. Give me back 11.52 Address Bar

One more extremely frustrating thing - opera's history seems to be very short term at times.
E.g. yesterday i visited http://tonsky.livejournal.com/264738.html and today i enter "scala livejournal" in address bar and get no hits.
Then i find that page in opera:history (btw opera:historysearch seems to be useless as it sorts results in a very strange way) and visit it again and bingo! now address bar displays the page when i enter the same terms.

Oleg.

omg i just finished writing this comment and checked again and that page is again forgotten!
so far address bar history is one of the most dissapointing things in opera (and making it one-line was certainly not helpful in any way)

Oleg

Originally posted by OlegYch:

One more extremely frustrating thing - opera's history seems to be very short term at times.

Yes, we know about the issue and we are working on that.

masterg20's post unintentionally brought up one of the issues I've described earlier: zig-zagging eye movement.

I used his screenshot and one of my own to illustrate a rough example of the *top-down eye movement, aligned with the beginning of the URL and title/content, in tandem.





Top-down eye movement, aligned with the beginning of the URL and title/content, under 11.52 (straight):






Top-down eye movement, aligned with the beginning of the URL and title/content, under 12.00 (zig-zag):





I would argue that 11.52 is more consistent, cleaner, and easier on the eyes just from this single issue of top-down eye movement. I must admit that 12.00's address field results do bring in improvements not found under 11.52, such as bolding the domain name portion of the URL. However, this is not an advantage of single-line results, since it can be easily implemented with double-line results.

Sadly, Bkazmierczak has already stated "...there are no plans to switch for double lined version. However there are plans to utilize more screen for address dropdown." At least the users know not to get their hopes up for future versions and the return (or optional feature) of double-line results.

Bkazmierczak, is it okay to ask what is the rationale for switching to single-line results in the first place? I don't believe I've heard of this justification before. My personal guess, which I've mentioned before, is that it copies Google Chrome's address field implementation. (In fact, the switch from 11.52 to 11.60 seemed like an outright imitation of the Google Chrome address field; same default colors, single-line results, inline search suggestions, removal of favicons. I mean, it literally was the Google Chrome address field.) Thankfully, some stuff has been fixed in version 12.00, such as smarter prioritization and giving us the option to bring back favicons.




* I specifically worded the sentence in this manner for a reason: ...top-down eye movement, aligned with the beginning of the URL and title/content, in tandem. These were not randomly chosen words.

just reiterating - current history is next to useless, i seriously doubt if anybody from opera team is actually "eating their own dog food"

@flansuse: Thanks for your post, that brings it staight to the point!

Originally posted by flansuse:

it copies Google Chrome's address field implementation

So, why not copy Firefox once more -- there are still two lines in the addressbar dropdown

Hi,

Originally posted by flansuse:

Top-down eye movement

is mostly relevant when you do press "show more" button in the address dropdown. What's the reason to actually go there for you? Can't you nail down your searching results by providing more input, like "stats code[project]" ?

Originally posted by OlegYch:

current history is next to useless

an quick fix for you would be to increase "Max Global History Lines" in opera:config to lets say 5000. In next browser version this supposed to work by default better.

Originally posted by mpresnitz:

why not copy Firefox once more

I'm not sure, but I think that this was the other way around initially ?

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

increase "Max Global History Lines" in opera:config to lets say 5000

I'll try that, too -- thanks for the hint.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

I'm not sure, but I think that this was the other way around initially ?

Yeah, could be (I'm no regular Firefox user) -- but then, even better
About my comment: There I was thinking of the addressbar ,,badge''... but don't get me wrong, Opera invented a lot of great things, which I use hourly (gestures, tab stacking, speed dial) and that's why I'm an Opera man since version 5 or so...

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Hi,

Originally posted by flansuse:

Top-down eye movement

is mostly relevant when you do press "show more" button in the address dropdown. What's the reason to actually go there for you? Can't you nail down your searching results by providing more input, like "stats code[project]" ?

This only raises the question "Why show many results in the first place if the user is expected to nail down his search results?"

Or the question "Why display such a long list of results when the search algorithm is supposedly smart enough to nail down the most relevant results?"

Then there is the fact that the user types text into the address field in an attempt to bring up a page that was either visited or bookmarked; however, he does not always know the exact URL or page title. The thought process goes something like this: "Oh man! I need to finish watching that interview on YouTube about nutrition. What was the guy's name again? Ah, I forgot! I'll just type in 'nutrition' and see if I can find it in the list." If it's not in the list, he may type in "interview", instead. Or he may type in both words together: "nutrition interview". Perhaps the user has viewed many videos about nutrition on YouTube, so it is expected that the drop-down list will present many results that the user can look through; hopefully he can quickly spot the result among the list. To expect him to "nail down" the result defeats one of the purposes of the address field; and as stated earlier, he may not know the name of the guest, the name of the interviewer, the name of the show, et al. All he knows is that it was a video about nutrition. If he must resort to using the history search or bookmark search, instead of using the address field, then it is considered a failure of the address field.

When a user visits google.com to search a term, he usually hits "Enter" or clicks "Google Search" and then looks through the results. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button is almost a humorous poke at Google itself, since it does not even hint at what page the user will be visiting, nor does it present a list of results. "I'm Feeling Lucky" is at an extreme end of the spectrum in which the software is supposedly so smart that it can basically figure out the most relevant result from the user's search query. Imagine if Google decided to remove the default "Google Search" button and only kept the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button? Imagine the reaction from the users if Google justifies this decision with "Well, if the button doesn't take you to the most relevant page, can't you just nail down your search query so that I'm Feeling Lucky has a better chance of opening up the most relevant page?" Do you think the users will accept this and think "Google's right. We don't need to look through many results. Their search algorithm is smart enough to figure out the most relevant result."

Yes, this is an extreme example, but it illustrates the same concept. Why show a long list of results in the first place if the user is expected to nail down his search results?

It doesn't explain the zig-zagging eye movement aligned with the beginning of the title/content on the drop-down results; nor does it explain the switch to single-line results and crammed text. As mentioned before, another problem (one of many) is that single-line results take longer to click on (requires more precision) due to Fitt's law, especially when using a laptop's touchpad.

I understand that single-line results are here to stay and that there will be no option to re-enable double-line results. I just was curious why the decision was made in the first place, and so far my hunch about imitating Google Chrome's look and behavior seems to be the only explanation I can accept; the developers and designers seem to avoid explaining the decision for this.

This isn't a challenge to you bkazmierczak, nor am I trying to force an answer out of you. We, the end-users, are curious about these decisions; it's in our nature.



* I clicked "Show More" in order to match the heights between the two screenshots and to give myself more room to draw.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Hi,

Originally posted by flansuse:

Top-down eye movement

is mostly relevant when you do press "show more" button in the address dropdown. What's the reason to actually go there for you? Can't you nail down your searching results by providing more input, like "stats code[project]" ?

Originally posted by OlegYch:

current history is next to useless

an quick fix for you would be to increase "Max Global History Lines" in opera:config to lets say 5000. In next browser version this supposed to work by default better.

Originally posted by mpresnitz:

why not copy Firefox once more

I'm not sure, but I think that this was the other way around initially ?

Hi Blazej. It's already at 50000
The main sore points for me now are:
- no prioritization by date visited
- garbage in history
- one line display
- overall flaky behavior, i.e. things get lost very quickly or take time to appear in history

Originally posted by flansuse:

Bkazmierczak, is it okay to ask what is the rationale for switching to single-line results in the first place?

I second that, I'd also really like to know what's behind this decision – please share it with us, thanks.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Hi,

Originally posted by flansuse:

Top-down eye movement

is mostly relevant when you do press "show more" button in the address dropdown. What's the reason to actually go there for you? Can't you nail down your searching results by providing more input, like "stats code[project]" ?

i cant provide more input and i shouldn't have to. The pages i visit are composed of 2 "stats code [project]" however with roughly 10 different views of pages within those pages. There are 2 pages, 1 for each project, that i start out at and go from there, they are bookmarked. I need to get back to those bookmarked pages however those bookmarked pages have the same address and same titles and headlines as the 10 other pages i just came from. I can't find crap in the 1 line address bar you put on us.

I am also one of the many many people who do not like the changed URL bar. In fact I still use 11.52 as my main browser. I do keep an updated usb version of opera so I can once in awhile start it up and see if it is usable. To date it is not.
I think it's bad policy for opera to make the change it did to the address bar even though so many people have cried out against it. Of course I do know that FF renewing it's contract with google and Opera wanting an increase and wanting something better then the small extension it got a few months ago is behind the changes and it leaves a bad impression for sure. BTW..I had posted a topic all about this explaining the reasons I saw for the changes and why it had to do with money, google and FF but it was deleted within five minutes...and I do not care enough anymore to redo all that research and write the post again.

The reply about top down eye movement is perfect to explain one of the many reasons I feel a two lined menu is better. This current menu goes against ease of use principles and I really fail to see any advantage to the new menu.. AT ALL.
If I wanted to use chrome I'd be using it, but I don't. I use Opera because I love Opera and have for a very long time. (I even paid for it back when it was shareware)
Users shouldn't have to jump thru hoops just to get bookmarks they visit everyday to show up at the top of the menu.
If feels to me Opera is drifting and vision-less these days. They tried widgets but then changed how they work and introduced unite. That made somewhat of a splash but they let it sit and rot. They should beefed up the API and made the user interface better but no they acted like they forgot about it and it stagnated. They try extensions...lotsa people try Opera out right then but long term it barely moves the user %. All right so next lets try making Opera look like chrome, which is still on going...(I can tell you now that it will not work either). Now they are getting rid of some of Opera's misbegotten children (widgets and unite being the biggest of them).
I guess themes are the next thing they're trying out. Mixing the real skins and those useless wallpapers together is a really really bad idea, but they seem determined to go ahead with it.
I guess I should have known there were bad days ahead when Jon jumped ship. And he even said so without saying so that the opera board was too focused on making short term money...hence the change and default google suggestions for all the non-power users that will never know how to turn it off.
I feel really sad about the future of Opera. I hope the rumors aren't true and opera is not sold to anyone. Maybe thats the second reason Jon left..he didn't want to see the company he worked hard to build ruined when it was sold to the highest bidder. Can't the dev. at the very least give us back a working and useful address drop-down menu? After being forced to sit by and watch all this happen to what I think of as the best browser there is, is that really to much to ask for??

i'm getting pretty angry...
e.g. i go to http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m6700/fs and don't see nothing in suggestions when enter m6700 in address bar

Originally posted by OlegYch:

go to http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m6700/fs and don't see nothing in suggestions when enter m6700 in address bar

This works well for me. Can I see more detailed steps please? Like how long after you visit the site you try to go back to it?

Hi Blazej.

See this http://www.screenr.com/Bbq8
Notice how i entered m6700 and there was nothing in history. Then i visited the same pages I was visiting yesterday (the urls appear in search suggestions if i remember their prefixes) and these pages appeared in suggestions. I checked while writing this message and the history is empty again.

Thanks, Oleg.

Originally posted by OlegYch:

OlegYch ..: here was nothing in history

Yeah, that's known and annoying, I can confirm, that the history is much too short currently. We are working to improve that and I hope that we can get that for next release. Stay tuned.

I agree with what's been said above: bookmarks first is better (I'd like to get rid of search entirely, too), more configurability is needed, search by default instead of URL by default is annoying, lack of type icons, two lines is better than one.

I'm still on 11.6x, BTW.

Blazej, I think short history might not be the only problem, it just feels so flaky...

any timeframe for when any of this will be fixed?

it''s like years passed and still no usable history in opera

I prefer the address bar and search bar to be separate, left and right in the UI respectively. And if the two absolutely have to be combined, then bookmarks should appear above any search results

Is the fixes coming anytime soon? I'm tired of having to use google instead of proper history in the browser. %(

More odd behavior with the new (single-line) address field.

If a history entry for a title reads like this:
Getting GNOME

When I type into my address field "gnome" it shows me only this:
gnome.org/getting-gnome

That's right. It only shows me the URL, but not the page title. However, if I type "getting" into the address field, it will show me both.
gnome.org/getting-gnome - Getting GNOME

This new address field is inconsistent and unpredictable.

Not to mention the fact that I've also noticed OlegYch's issue with the flaky history. Some things simply will not display in the drop-down results, even if the page exists in my history. This can apply to pages which I've visited minutes ago.

* This is a test page that I mentioned in my above example: Getting GNOME

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

And I think I will repeat that one : sorry, there are no plans to switch for double lined version. However there are plans to utilize more screen for address dropdown.

No need switch as standard, if you don't wanna, at least give us an option to switch between double/single lined version when we want to.

any news?

Next Opera version should have adjustments in the addressbar area. I can't give you any details, but we have read most of the comments above.

Originally posted by bkazmierczak:

Next Opera version should have adjustments in the addressbar area. I can't give you any details, but we have read most of the comments above.

I will be excited to check this out. But I will continue to use 10.52 until everything gets addressed.

Any news?