Firefox/Features/streamline-search

Feature	Status	ETA	Owner
Streamline the visual appearance of the search field	Need to decide that we want to move forward, and then get colors from the various engines	YYYY-MM-DD	Alex Faaborg

Summary

The favicons in the search field are creating a significant amount of visual complexity in our product. They are using a wide range of colors, and they reduce the relative discoverability of nearby controls like reload and stop. Additionally the search field is causing a large number of mode errors, as users search the previous engine they selected for a new search term. This project aims to solve both of these problems.

Team

• Feature Manager: Alex Faaborg
• Lead Developer: Margaret Leibovic
• Product Manager: Alex Faaborg
• QA:
• UX: Alex Faaborg
• Security:
• Privacy:
• Biz Dev: Kev Needham

Release Requirements

• Getting major search engines to optionally specify a color that they would like to use when they are active bug 634140
• Implementing the changes, with engines without specified colors falling back to the same color as the active go button bug 592909

Open Issues

• If we default the search button to green (same as the go button in the location bar) if the search engine has not provided us with a color, will that cause any issues with our relationship with them?

Related Bugs & Dependencies

• Reaching out to search engines to get colors bug 634140
• Implementation bug 592909

Designs

Mockup

Use Cases

• Search with a greater awareness of which search engine is activated
• Return to the search field after a long period of time and realize that your default search engine is not the currently active one
• Enjoy the visual simplicity and streamlined appearance of the field when it is not currently focused

Goals

• Pretty
• Reduced mode errors
• Increased focus on various engines as verbs (not that we care that much, but a side effect of the design)
• Increased brand awareness (not that we care that much, but a side effect of the design)

Non-Goals

• Merge the search bar with the location bar (at this point)