Activate Search Bar

Please auto focus the search bar! Yes, I sometimes visit and don't immediately do my search, but it's very, very rare. IMDb is known as the go-to for quick info on movies, shows, actors, etc. and the site is nice, but what is their goal? To drive folks to new movies, or be a data-base resource?

Please, please, please focus the search bar. I use IMDb so often now (I work for a nonprofit with hundreds of celebrity friends. Every time we print new letterhead or do a mailing I refer to IMDb to eliminate any that have died.) Judging by all the comments above, I cannot see any valid reason not to do this. It's a simple line of java; no heavy programming required.

Look, if the concern is that they want folks to peruse the site's promos trust me, based on personal experience, I always resume my intended search once I've looked at something that caught my attention.

But again, I must restate - this is a *database* and as such, it should be ready to be searched.

Thank you again for re(?)considering.

Jennifer

P.S. It took SIX tab enters to reach search bar. This is not productive, even for those who have to "arrow" to get around. You cannot arrow btw, at least not in Firefox. And those who wish to use hotkeys - can't they still use hotkeys? I simply cannot understand the argument against this. Not even the tablet argument. There will *always* be desktop machines needed.

P.P.S. I counted 10 others, myself included, who wish for autofocus to be implemented.

One suggestion is that it should be easy enough to create a Greasemonkey script to do this. I'll have a look into this later on.

Thank you. But I'm gonna bug those devs until they tire of my beggin' ;-)

This'll do the job:

// ==UserScript==
// @name IMDB Search Bar Focus
// @namespace IMDB Search Bar Focus
// @description Focus on the search bar
// @include http://www.imdb.com/*
// @version 1
// @grant none
// ==/UserScript==
window.function(){

// get elements
var imdb_search = document.getElementById('navbar-query');

if (imdb_search.value == "") {

imdb_search.focus();

}

}

Just highlight it, copy it, click "New User Script" in Greasemonkey then "Use Script From Clipboard" and that should get it working.

It is pretty basic (just throwing in a check to see if you've searched for anything, as focusing on the search bar on the search results page causes the drop down quick results to appear, which is annoying if you are wanting to look at the research page - if this is what you want remove the if line and the closing bracket } or comment them out to see the effect) but it should be possible to add the code here to detect the backspace key press and navigate backwards:

http://www.whatstyle.net/articles/51/...

I might give it a go later.

Yep that works fine:

// ==UserScript==


// @name        IMDB Search Bar Focus


// @namespace   IMDB Search Bar Focus


// @description Focus on the search bar


// @include     http://www.imdb.com/*


// @version     1.1


// @grant       none


// 1.1: Add backspace navigation code from: http://www.whatstyle.net/articles/51/focus_onload_but_keep_backspace_intact


// ==/UserScript==


window.function(){



  // get elements


  var imdb_search = document.getElementById('navbar-query');



  if (imdb_search.value == "") {



    imdb_search.focus();



    //This checks for backspace back page navigation - will only work if you haven't typed anything in the search box


    document.function (e) {


      if (!e) {


        var e = window.event;


      }


      if (e.keyCode === 8 && !imdb_search.value) {


        history.back();


      }


    }



  }



}

If you type in the search box and press backspace it deletes the last character. If you delete it all or haven't typed in the search box, then backspace just takes you back in your browser history.

Which is pretty much all the features that were requested.

Until they fix it, you can use my chrome extension i just made. :)


https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...

Also one available for Firefox:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/imdb-autofocus-on-searchfor/

Actually, a couple of site updates ago, the search input box did get the focus on screen load; it was extraordinarily irritating when that feature was left out.

We used IMDb a lot these past few weeks searching for horror films, and it was so frustrating that the developers have still refused to honor my (and I see many others' requests).  I do not understand what they seem to think will be lost.  If a visitor sees something like a new movie ad that they are interested in, the auto-focus will not distract them from viewing.  It surely never stops me from returning to the reason for my visit.

I will ask again: PLEASE incorporate page focus in IMDb searches.

Respectfully,
Jennifer

P.S.  I love IMDb's rating system.  We found a most terrifying movie: The Conjuring.  It made up for the frustration of having to constantly CLICK to activate the search bar each time we found something potentially worthwhile.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Autofocus on input search bar.

I've been an avid user of this site for so many years and still get mildy frustrated that the search bar - the first point to go to on the site - does not have autofocus set on it and it takes 4 tabs to select it.

Please make the searchbar easier to navigate to as someone who does not use a mouse.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Search already selected upon visiting the mainpage..

If i vitis IMDB.com, i always have the search for a specific movie/tv series/artist in mind. I assume, a chunk of other users will be similar to me, maybe not the majority, but still alot. So, what i am suggesting is, let every user have the search field auto selected, similar to google.com. People who open google.com can just start typing their topic, without the need to use the mouse. Similar function on IMDB.com would be convinient for people who need it, have an specific use profile and would be barely noticable for other users(because they would navigate as the did before, click on something as they did before).
Thx.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Set the input focus on the main page to the search (text input) field..

The first action every person does when going to your site is find a movie.  To do this, I have to grab the mouse and click on the search widget.  If it was programmed right, this would already be done.  I would start typing and the text would appear in the proper place.  If you need an example of a web page done properly, look at google.  Goto google.  You don't have to move the mouse to the search text field because it's already done!!!

Please tell the web programmer to: Set the input focus on the main page to the text search widget. That will prevent everyone from doing it when they first get to your site. This is obvious and important and I can't believe you haven't done it yet!!!

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled [IDEA] Default the Cursor to the Search Field on Page Load.

There is nothing more to say.
I know about the extensions, but this should be a native feature.

If possible, could someone from the staff answer why this has not been implemented yet ?
And please do not say that this is a matter of taste/preference. Users have to do one more click to use the most used feature on the site. Seems like the only logical thing to do is to implement it.

Thank you,
Kris

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled When i open the home page , cursor should be highlighted in the search text field....

Open the home page.
cursor should be highlight in the search field.
as of now, user manually have to click the search field .

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled This should be a no-brainer.

There is one VERY EASY change the IMDb webmaster can do to make the web site better. It actually should have been done when created .
~
When we first come to the IMDb web site, put the focus in the search box so that all we have to do is start typing our search information.
~
Really, I learned about that in web pages 101.