Basic behavior of the search-function

heidi-hoh

First:

I did use the search-function successfully for hundreds of times before. But not the last months.
Computers are my friends since MS-Dos 6.x and WWW with 14k Modem.

But today, i failed to perform a simple, basic search for about 5 or 6 minutes. What happend?

First time on my new linux-machine (only running from stick or cd till now). Try to figure out, how to install vivaldi on Mint. Went to vivaldi forum, enter sub-forum for linux and (of course) need a search:

First, i am (again) a little irritated because the "Q Search this category" is not an input-field, but just a link.
Second, (again) a little more irritated, that the page answered me, it has 500 hits for "", but i did not use any term until now.
Third, and this let my feel like my 90 y.o. father: I did not find a way to type my term anywhere. Tried the "blue box", went back to the page before, wonder about the instruction on the left "Tippen, um zu suchen" (type for search), because what else should i do? Speak, write a letter, send a pigeon?

My conclusion: Bug with this page and Firefox!
So started my Win11 machine, went to vivaldi forum, locked in. But everything looks & behave the same.
Staring at my screen for a while, i realized (and remembered), that "Tippen, um zu suchen" (type for search) is the search-box. OK, got it. Kind of stupid. But i needed a second computer and several minutes to clear the fog...

My 50cents:

On the main page of a category should be an input field to perform directly a search (of course only in this category). Because 99% of all people coming here and looking for help need to search. Browsing through the pages is more for the people who wand to answer something.
"Q Search this category" doesn't look like a simple link but like a search-box (so my mouse-pointer would change to "I" and let me type something) or like a button to open a popup or a side-menu or whatever.
But i did not expect a simple link. No way.
Like https://forum.vivaldi.net/post/613583 said, returning a search-result (for "") without anything typed-in until now is quite unusual and irritating in my www experience. Let me think, i did a mistake or the page is buggy. Understand, that the framework you use may be a little limiting, but also understand that it seems to be possible to fix.
My main problem: The search box is not designed very well. When you have not the full amount of coffee drunken or just a bad day like me today, it is an unnecessary source of frustration. https://forum.vivaldi.net/post/705718 mentioned the same (before it went off-topic...).
What ever: Fat border, shadow, colour, distance to the filter-boxes below, label, light and cursive font and add the word "here", position on top of the blue box,...
If you start search like in 1. shown, your term would show up automatically in the box (on the search-page), so you know where to type-in for new terms.

Dirk