when typing in the omnibox add all the search providers icons the user has installed. that way the average user can easily hit the icon of whatever search provider he wants to use for that search.
For this look at internet explorer 9.
here’s a deep link right to the spot in the video where this feature is shown in internet explorer 9. It’s quick so don’t miss it. watch when he types, the search providers are listed below the search suggestions:
also let the user decide if they want to choose a constant default search provider for the address bar and for the default to not be overwritten unless the user clicks a different search provider and also give the user the option to keep the default search provider dynamic meaning the default search provider becomes and stays as the last search provider the user chose until the user chooses a different search provider. this will prevent the users default search provider from being hijacked. also if the use gives chooses to have a constant default search provider then alert the user if something tries to change it. this way the use has to give confirmation. also alert the user if a search provider tries to install and make the user give confirmation
also you could add instant search results in the omnibox from the drop down. the user will get search results from the default search provider but if the user hovers over an icon of a different search provider then the search results from that provider are shown in the drop down.
For an example of instant search in a search bar look at Rockmelt browser however it won’t have the feature of hovering over different search providers to see their search results.
rockmelts version of instant search is better than googles because with google it will overide your current tab as you type so the user would have to remember to open a new tab to prevent this. with rockmelts version the user doesn’t have to do this because all the search results are populated in the drop down box that search suggestions appear in. the user gets search suggestions as the user types but when the user stops, the search suggestions go away and show search results instead.
here’s a deep link directly to the spot in the video that shows rockmelts version of isntant search:
This is what it may look like if all this was put into dragon. it’s somewhat different than what i was suggestion but the general idea is the same.
the fisrt 2 pics are of search suggestions as you type in a dropdown with all search providers showing that the user has installed. the blue box around the icon shows what search provider is in use. the user can use the left and right arrow keys to switch providers and the up and down arrow keys to select search suggestions or the user can use the mouse to select the provider and search suggestions
the last pic shows search results in a dropdown with all search providers showing that the user has installed. again the user can use the left and right arrow keys to switch providers and see a different search engines search results and the up and down arrow keys to scroll search results. search results appear after the user stops typing with a slight delay. also notice the open new tab/background tab next to links. you don’t see this all the way down the page because i didn’t make the image wide enough for it to fit right. the new tab allows the user to open the link in a new tab and switch to that tab automatically without the user having to right click the link. the open in new background tab comes in handy when you want to open many search results in a new tab without leaving your current tab and if dragon had a open in background tab option in the right click context menu then this would still save the user a step. also the header of the google search results is modified to show all google search categories. this would be done for all search engines
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