[dec0dedab0de]

I really just wish they would go back to letting the search bar change on the fly and remain that way until you change it back. With the little icon letting you know which service it is currently set to.

Does anyone know why that functionality was removed? If I'm searching for anything other than my default chances are I'm going to be searching at least 3 different things before getting it right, but then I can't just change the text and press enter.

While I'm ranting, when did google stop paying attention to the actual words you type and starting showing what they think you meant? I mean I know it's been gradual, but at some point over the last few years I've noticed having to use quotes for almost everything, and it still doesn't return exact results. I assume that has something to do with how they normalize the ngrams and how I'm not the target audience anymore, but it's still annoying.

[pavement]

Did you mean: something you definitely did not mean?

  Showing results for something you definitely did not mean
  Search instead for something you meant

No, Google, that's not what I meant. Put these links way, I did not mean that. I meant what I said.

[nerdponx]

Bandcamp's search is particularly bad in this regard, and doesn't even give you the option to quote or manipulate your search terms.

This is an increasing trend across the industry. I've been calling it "technological paternalism".

[11backslashes]

I use DDG as default, and have all my other engines set with keywords. Searching wikipedia (mapped to 'wk') for instance is as easy as:

ctrl+l

wk <search_key_word>

[joeyblow]

https://duckduckgo.com/bang

[jldugger]

I'm on 56.0 until Ubuntu publishes an update but... if I click on the search glass icon, a dialog pops up with a set of suggested alternatives, and a change search settings button.

Did that actually change in Quantum?

[dec0dedab0de]

No it changed a long time ago. It used to be instead of the magnifying glass icon it had the icon of the current search provider. Then you could click a drop down and change it at any time, and it would stay there until you changed it again.

[jldugger]

So it's still there, it just doesn't prominently feature search engine branding at rest.

[dec0dedab0de]

no, if your default is google, and you search something on amazon, it immediately goes back to google. Which means that you need to do two clicks every search instead of just enter

[davej]

Probably because search providers (e.g.. Google/DDG) will pay more for exclusive preference on the search bar.

[dec0dedab0de]

I really don't think that's it. I think someone at mozilla thought it would be a "less cluttered" interface.

[hyperboria]

How to switch off search-engines panel in url-search?

[hyperboria]

about:config browser.urlbar.oneOffSearches false

[jonnycomputer]

I feel the same way.