Wikipedia Label

Under the search box on pretty much any Wikipedia page you’ll see two buttons: Go and Search.  Huh?

4 Responses to “Wikipedia Label”

  1. Thomas Baekdal Says:

    I think that is what happens when people look towards Google for usability advice. The “Go” button is essentially the same as Google’s “I’m feeling lucky” button.

    As a gimmick it is might be fun, especially when you combine it with Clint Eastwood. As an interface element and a feature it is not.

  2. Percy Says:

    I never paid attention to the buttons in the Search ‘feature’ of Wikipedia since I hit Enter without even thinking (Or so I think.). But, it’s amazing if the Go button does mirror Google’s ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button. I’m tempted to say ‘Go figure’ but I’m not feeling so lucky.

  3. Joe Dolson Says:

    Weird…I can easily accept either button; but both leaves me a bit confused.

    They are different, as it happens - “Go”, like Google’s “lucky” button, sends you directly to the article if there is one either using the term you’ve searched or redirected from it. Otherwise, it performs a search on the term - which is the behavior for the “search” button.

    Still, the “Go” button will never behave exactly like Google’s “Feeling Lucky” - since there are a very large number of possible search terms which will not trigger an exact match.

    Interestingly, according to Wikipedia: Searching, it’s the “Go” button which is triggered by keyboard “Enter” - I would personally have preferred it the other way. Would be nice if that could be changed in the user settings…

  4. lea Says:

    maybe they’re meant to read together “go search” like we do with dogs (”go fetch)”…

    haaaa

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