Separate search button from input to prevent login misclicks#225
Separate search button from input to prevent login misclicks#225jayenashar wants to merge 1 commit intoqgis:masterfrom
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Users were accidentally clicking the login button when attempting to search because the search input field was immediately followed by the login button. This change moves the magnifying glass icon into a separate search button styled to match the login button, creating clear visual separation. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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before: after: |
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related: qgis/QGIS-Django#241 |
Xpirix
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Thanks for this @jayenashar . I would suggest just adding the spacing between the search bar and the login button for now.
Having the search icon transformed to a button seems like a good idea to me. But, I would keep it inside the search bar like the initial style, maybe move it to the left side to avoid missclicking? I'm just thinking about the global branding and layout that we have across all our websites here.
Adding spacing is not enough. The problem isn't that people are misclicking. (The search icon isn't clickable anyway.) The problem is that people click without reading the word "login".
I don't know much about the global branding and layout, but the search button needs to look like the login button to avoid people from clicking the wrong button. If both are there, people will read them. Actually I wanted to move the login button to the global header but I realised that the login is necessary for most other sites. I can look at visually grouping the search input and the search button together, but that's kind of what is there now and people are still clicking the login button. They get all the way to asking SAC for a mantra, which is the initiator of this PR (and the old django PR). |
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I also like the inline search icon more. I'm not sure it's the reason for all those confused users. Centering the search bar might also be an idea, but it would look weird with all those buttons on the left. I like the alignment fix, though. |
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do you have any opinion on moving the login button somewhere completely different? like the left side of the header? or other more drastic changes? like two buttons |
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Maybe here? No idea TBH. 
I just hate the mantra system and how it makes people think they need an account to download a plugin, or even to use plugins like QMS. |
The mantra system doesn't make them think that. It's that they press the login button when they want to search and then they think they need an account to search |
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Had you considered turning the "login" to a simple link instead of an highlighted button ? There would be far less people in need to login... |
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Thank you @jayenashar and @lnicola I spent some time reviewing this with @Xpirix . For context, we put a lot of time and effort in developing our new website design language. I am currently not aligned with your thinking and motivation for this change and would take some more convincing that this design language change is something we want to roll out across all of the qgis.org websites. We welcome your past and hopefully future inputs but would respectfully pass on this PR, Thank you Regards Tim |
We'd appreciate having some QGIS volunteers on the mantra list because right now it feels there's a big disconnect. For reference, last time I counted I had 220 conversations from that list in 30 days, many of which with multiple back-and-forth messages, including gatekeeping accusations from someone who wanted to download a plugin. Roughly 3/4 of those users wanted an account for QGIS, most of them wanted to download plugins. So I agree with @jayenashar that there's some unfortunate UX on the QGIS site that makes more that 100 people each month think they need an account just to use QGIS. |
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@timlinux the motivation is the same as the old site. You can see the feedback you left here: qgis/QGIS-Django#159 (comment) If a better design is required, that's fine, but this is an ongoing pain point for OSGeo SAC |
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Ok thanks for the additional context @jayenashar. @Xpirix let's do another huddle to come up with a solution. |
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So here is how we propose to address this:
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Thank you @timlinux
Would you like me to submit a PR for this? I would suggest having a search button because enough people are clicking a button instead of pressing <enter>
I don't think anyone will read it [but that shouldn't stop you from trying].
That will be good for reducing friction for new contributors, but should not be necessary for mantra requests unless the login button finds it's way back to the search field again. |
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| Thank you @timlinux Sure no problem @jayenashar | 1. We will move the login to the other side of the submenu, after the other submenu items |Would you like me to submit a PR for this? I would suggest having a search button because enough people are clicking a button instead of pressing Well we are going to demote it from a button to a link and it is going to be really far from the search button, so I doubt anyone will be clicking on it thinking they are submitting a search. If you are still getting spammed on the mantra side then I would guess that people are actively going there rather than mistakenly so. @Xpirix will take care of the change, thanks so much for the offer though. | 2. We will redesign the login screen to emphasis that you DO NOT NEED TO LOG IN in order to download plugins. In fact @Xpirix we should be directing users to use the plugin manager in QGIS as the first choice if they simply want to use the plugin in QGIS. We will change the background so that this information is in high contrast and above the login area so the user is more likely to read it. |I don't think anyone will read it [but that shouldn't stop you from trying]. Yup | 3. Medium term: We will phase out direct LDAP autthenacation to rather authenticate via our own keycloak server with OSGEO LDAP being one of the providers behind keycloak but also offering a range of other social auth providers they can use. That should radically reduce the amount of requests you get. | That will be good for reducing friction for new contributors, but should not be necessary for mantra requests unless the login button finds it's way back to the search field again. Offering keycloak and social auth has been on our roadmap for a while already. |
I'm referring to adding a search button. Visitors are typing in the search field and then, instead of pressing <enter>, using their mouse to click a button. These visitors may be confused if there is no button. |
Hi Yes I understood that. 
Search bar with no button is a common metaphor, so I don't think the button to search is needed, we just need to move the login action away from the search bar and I believe the "wrong" interaction will stop happening. Regards Tim |
I don't believe GitHub is a fair comparison to QGIS Plugins because GitHub is used by developers and QGIS is used by non-developers. How about making the magnifying glass clickable? No need to change the style or position. 
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Note that the login has been moved over to the left now: 
It would be interesting to know if the volume of requests has decreased since we made this change? |
5 participants
Summary
Problem
Users were accidentally clicking the login button when trying to search because the search input field was immediately followed by the login button with minimal spacing.
Solution
This change creates clear visual separation by:
Test plan