Comment 17 for bug 310239

I have verified this bug as present in the latest KFind (v24.08.4)

I think it is wrong to assume that the end user knows what wildcards are and that they are essential to use KFind. The status quo is definitely confusing for novice users.

Personally I would like to retain the current functionality but somehow communicate the functionality better to the end user. Here's what I propose:

1) By default (on launch of KFind) use a search example that heavily implies the use of wildcards such as: *.txt

My rationale is that our intended user audience should at least be aware of .txt files so they should be able to put 2+2 together and figure what the * stands for.

2) On mouse hover over the text field a helpful short explanation of what wildcards are + alternative search examples could also be included.

3) If not on mouse hover then perhaps it could be an initial greyed out explanatory text (inside the text field) before the user types anything.

Any of the above will be a nice improvement over what we currently have.