Find "continue from top" user feedback

[sjoerdb]

When using "Find" to search for instances of something on a page, by default it jumps back to the beginning of the page when the end of the page is reached. User feedback about this is minimal or non-existent. (Minimal: in the Find bar at the bottom of the page there is a note "Reached end of page, continued from top"; Non-existent: when the Find bar is invisible and the user uses Ctrl-G to find the next item).

This behavior is very irritating - since it makes it very difficult to know how many instances there are on the page, and whether all have been seen.

I would suggest implementation of one of the following possibilities - the first being easiest to implement, the last being my preferred option.

1. When reaching the end of the page, (optionally - the user may disable this) do NOT automatically continue from top. The user (if configured so) will have to click somewhere (or press enter, or press Ctrl-G again) to continue from top.

2. Automatically continue from top, BUT when reaching the point where the first occurrence was found (which may be in the middle of the page), give the user feedback that "All instances have been found - do you want to search again?". Also here pressing enter or Ctrl-G would continue finding, and also here this request for user feedback might be disabled.

3. Use a sidebar to immediately show a list of all instances found in the page, allowing the user to quickly navigate to the desired instance and immediately get an overview over all instances (including the number of instances found).

Method "2" is used for example in Open Office Calc, method "3" is for example in the latest MS Word.
Both "1" and "2" might be integrated into the Find bar, but that leaves the question what to do when the find bar is invisible. Make it visible when all instances have been visited?

I know that there is a bug filed for this in Firefox (ages ago), and that the developers decided they won't fix it. For me, it's a daily frustration - and I know I'm not alone.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Try Finderbar Tweak.. Maybe it can solve some of your issues https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/search-tools/finderbar-tweak/

[Lucio Chiappetti]

Both "1" and "2" might be integrated into the Find bar, but that leaves the question what to do when the find bar is invisible. Make it visible when all instances have been visited?

Personally I almost always keep the find bar visible, or at least I rarely close it after I popped it up with control-F, and I' very happy about the way it works (I would find a popup much more intruding). I never use the control-G accelerator (I did not even know about it nor can find it in the menus).

I suppose that your latest suggestion (hilighted in red) could be a viable solution for all kind of users.

[x-15a2]

Try Finderbar Tweak.. Maybe it can solve some of your issues https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/search-tools/finderbar-tweak/

Thanks for the tip on the extension, I wasn't aware of it and it works great for my needs!

[sjoerdb]

Try Finderbar Tweak.. Maybe it can solve some of your issues https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/search-tools/finderbar-tweak/

Thanks Matt, it does improve the Find experience (the highlighting animation is good, and it gives a hit counter), but it does NOT solve my main issue: it wraps around to the top, and does so WITHOUT any notification. It even removed thе notification that used to be in the find bar.
I guess, the feature I requested could easily be implemented as part of the "finderbar-tweak" extension - but a majority of users would still not find it!
The existence of this extension does show that there is room for improvement in the find department!

I never use the control-G accelerator (I did not even know about it nor can find it in the menus)..

Maybe we are supposed to use F3 instead, which appears to do the same thing. My main OS is Mac OSX however, so I'm not an F-key person. Ctrl-G works in many applications for repeating a find, and I was happy to find it worked here too.

... and I'm very happy about the way it works (I would find a popup much more intruding).

Yes, I suppose in many cases the present implementation is fine, and a popup would annoy people. A little checkbox in the find bar "do not wrap around" or somewhere in the preferences would make me very happy - while not affecting (other than by adding complexity... sorry!) other users.