The "Search List" Option Needs Improvement

PositronWildhawk I like the idea of a search engine to find items in a list. For long lists, this really makes it easier to find things, and in a way, it works around the 20 items per page controversy. It does make browsing a list and the site easier than before. But there are some things that I don't like.

The "Add Item" option now only appears if you click the "add" option after making a search. First of all, that's extremely irritating. These are two very different functions; they should really be independent of each other, so please place them separately. What if you're on a short list? You can easily see what's there, and what isn't. With the average list only having one page, this really isn't ideal. You shouldn't have to go through an unnecessary search just to add an item. Additionally, you can only add one item at a time. I've added multiple items to lists at a time in the past, so this only hinders this progress. I suppose it is an attempt to avoid duplicates, but surely there can be a system where a duplicate is automatically ignored? And also, the anti-duplicate idea, as well as other things, are flawed as of the point below.
The search is limited to ten items, unless further refined. Automatically, that doesn't give it much of a good impression as a search engine. On a long list, there could easily be more than ten items under a search, such as songs by a certain artist on best songs of all time, or references to yo mama on best insults. If we were searching for that term, we should really be able to see everything that comes under that search. It works for searching lists on profile pages, which includes members who have made thousands of lists, so why not here? And also, it gets you no closer to being able to add that item!
You have to scroll to the bottom of the page in order to see it. I'm presuming one of the purposes of a search engine is quick access to anywhere in the list. Thus, it would make sense to put the search engine at the top, maybe next to the favourite and remix buttons. Thus, little scrolling is needed, and it saves time. If you're going back to this list just to leave a comment on a certain item, time is saved this way.
On mobile, it's incredibly slow, as well as annoyingly difficult to type in the search box. I have pressed it multiple times before it would recognise that I was typing. And then, the links to items have the same two problems.

So, admin, like the idea, but it's far from perfect at the moment. Please address these issues, and if there is anything else that someone would like to raise, comment below.

Comments

Are you taking about the search bar FOR a list or a search bar IN a list? - Puga (11/11/2015)

The latter. I said that in the first sentence. - PositronWildhawk (11/11/2015)

Since when did lists have search bars? - Puga (11/12/2015)

Since 3012 Puga. - Skullkid755 (3/22/2016)

1) Currently, the Search List link only replaces the Add List link on lists with 100 or more items.

2) The purpose of the search is to find an item in the list. Ten results is a large enough result set to accomplish this goal.

3) In the future we may consider moving the search up the page, but since most people arrive at a list to view the top listings and not to try to locate a specific listing, we did not want to devote real estate at the top of the page to a feature that is not useful to them.

4) The search form uses the same logic as the Add Item form and we did not run into any performance issues during our testing, but we'll revisit the subject. - admin (11/11/2015)

Good enhancement! - Billyv (11/15/2015)

#3 should'nt be improved
If you're scrolling down to see where a certain item is and you wont find it, it's automatically the best to have it on the bottom! - visitor (11/12/2015)

Great post - bobbythebrony (11/12/2015)

The search bar was a terrible idea. Now I can't add new items on a list with less than 2 pages. That sucks. - visitor (11/20/2015)

The search bar and stats should both be upgraded - bobbythebrony (1/17/2016)

Great post - visitor (7/30/2016)

And you can't search for users - visitor (7/24/2017)

I would be happy with the "Search List" Option at the top. Very often I add items to my own lists and I know what's on the list but I have to go through the "Search List" Option in order to add every item. Too much scrolling up and down, too annoying. - Metal_Treasure (9/9/2017)

Everything always needs improvement nothing can be perfect - visitor (6/21/2018)

It's been 5 years & it's still not fixed - AlanaThePony (10/5/2020)