Comment 86 for bug 691380

Created attachment 460747
Interactive XUL Mockup V.3: Simple Quick Filter Widget with horizontal floating Criteria Panel on top

Cool stuff! Thanks to Charles Marcus, who kept advertising his idea of having a floating criteria bar on top of the searchbox when you are in it, I couldn't resist giving that a try. It's all ****** hard to code, and takes ages, but the ultimate result was really rewarding:

Not that I absolutely need the floating thing all the time, but it looks and feels really neat and useful, and in the current design it's only there when you actually need it most: for defining your filter from the quick filter box. With the desirable double function of indicating and changing current filter criteria. All the rest from mockups V.1/V.2 still there for you to play with here in V.3 and see if there is any useful combinations, or just to compare.

Oh, and for those minimalists among us who don't like the float bar, I implemented an option on the dropdown (wicked, isn't it :)) to switch it off :)... We might come up with some more options to put into that menu.

Charles, did you want the float bar to hang around for as long as there is an active filter (unless user presses ESC) or just as long as the focus is in the search box?

Maybe we could turn the magnifier or an extra button into a master-toggle button that switches on/off the whole filter (incl. advanced) and visually indicates if any filters are present (esp. advanced filters that can be active even without text in the box). Like a dropdown-dual-menubutton where you get the criteria float bar when you click on the dropdown part...