What we should write inside "Search box"?

Question

What we should write inside "Search box"?

Blank (noting)

Search

....Search

Search here

Enter you search term

Type here.......

Or something else.

Answer 1

Definitely don't leave it blank and use the keyword "search". I'd use "Search..." or a simple "Search".

And unless your website is aimed at advanced users, I'd suggest having a separate button they can click on(usability tests are good reminders on how little people use keyboard shortcuts).

Answer 2

Placeholders usually make sense only when there’s no label associated with the input.

Don’t be afraid to use detailed placeholders, for example:

• Search by name
• Search by domain or keyword
• Search events
• Search history
• Search inbox
• Search programs and files
• etc

…but “Search” is normally sufficient. Or leave it blank and use the wording “Search” on submit button.

Google on the other hand does not need a placeholder – it’s obvious. Google wants to keep his front page dead simple and UI noise minimal.

Answer 3

Nothing. Put your prompts and hints next to the text box. It takes very little additional space and can still be seen quickly enough. It would take a pretty extreme case to justify putting prompts in text boxes. Its downside:

• Users may mistake the text box for a completed field (and therefore not a search box) See Jarrett’s Don’t Put Hints Inside Text Boxes in Web Forms.

• Users may forget or not notice what the field was for (e.g., “wait –was that Search or Login?”). See Wroblewski’s Web Form Design: Labels Within Inputs.

• It may introduce accessibility issues. See Registration Forms without labels?

Some designers change the style of the prompt text to try to make it look distinct from actual input, but there is no clear appearance that says “this is not a filled field.” Some use gray text, but that may make users think the field is disabled, so they don’t even try to use it.

And you have to make sure your code is right so the prompt clears and it never becomes part of the Search criteria. At the same time you must never clear input by the user or else they can’t tweak a search that didn’t work well enough.

It’s more trouble than it’s worth.

And seriously, the incredibly vast majority of users know a text box when they see one. They don’t need to be told “Type Here” or “Enter your search term.” That’s just clutter.

Answer 4

+1 for what both Zoltan and Taimar said - please don't leave it blank.

However, whatever you put in the search box, please make sure that the text disappears when search terms are entered. Please note that I'm not JUST talking about when the user types into the search box, but also when the user drags text into the search box.

Answer 5

Working on something similar at the moment. In my case, I have dropdown beside the search box that lets you switch between foosite and google. It defaults to "Search Foosite..." and when you change the select, the search input value changes to "Search Google...".

In either case, the text disappears when you focus on the search input.

Not 100% sure if this is the best way to do it though. Kind of just going on my own experience.

Also, I decided not to include a 'Search' button, seeing as most search boxes these days omit it in favour of the user just pressing enter to submit the form/do a GET.