Dreamweaver 2017 - what happened to Find & Replace window?

[lucianon49468952]

Hello,

First, I apologize if I I've overlooked something, however I can't get the new Find & Replace window working as in DW 2015.

This is the new Find and Replace window:

FIRST QUESTION:

Where is the "Find All" button? There are many circumstances for which I really need to get a list of the occurrences found, even when searching within the current document only (for proper work-flow, it's not enough to just browse back and forth using the two arrows). As displayed below, the search result window remains totally empty, even if there are 11 occurrences found:

SECOND QUESTION:

I haven't found any way to undock the Find & Replace window, but it can be displayed only on top of the current document, taking lot of space. I really need to undock the Find and Replace window, and to drag it on a secondary monitor, to maximize editing space. This was perfectly possible in DW 2015, as displayed below:

Please help!

[Guest]

the answer is to install Dreamweaver 2015...that's what I did.

[diggetydog]

TOTALLY NOT ANSWERED! WTF

I use this feature constantly for quick fixes and to just Release an update with an entirely BUGGY VERSION is ridiculous.

Preran - this is baloney - you need to advise people before you send the update to the cloud manager. If I had known this was a no go, then I would not have updated the software.

You cost me time and money now - And I more than sure that I won't get a free month from adobe to cover it!

[Jon Fritz]

Update to CC2017.1. This thread is originally about CC2017.0 which is two versions removed from "current".

In CC2017.1 (note, not 2017.0.1 which has also been superseded) the old functionality is back.

1. The F&R window is now under Ctrl + Shift + F

2. It is undocked from the document window (accessible without an open file)

3. Allows for the items that were missing in the last two versions, like "Find in Tag"

4. Can save and load queries, with some modifications, (bottom of this page): Find and replace text, tags, and attributes

[lnayal]

Hi Michael,

Can you please brief us where do you want to change file order?

and what order would you prefer?

Thanks,

Lalita

[Guest]

Thank you for joining Lalita! We're all here in the forum because we're looking to find a solution together, so any assistance from the experts at Adobe would be greatly appreciated. Many of us are just trying to do our jobs that earn us money so we can grown our business and purchase even more Adobe Cloud licenses . I look forward to your team's response!

Lots of fixes and enhancements could be chosen from the comments above allowing us to work more efficiently. The prior UI was more intuitive and functional. To me, it looks like many assumptions were pushed into action without consulting the user base because sizzle sells.  I don't think removing or hiding functionality was your team's intent, but this is where we are. Regarding the search functionality, I think a bit of UX work (if the prior search functionality still exist) is in order to pinpoint and diagnose exactly what people need to do.

Looking at the list above, the top item I think should be looked into is.

1. Documentation of Find and Replace

Here's my current issue which brought me here.

Task:

Search for lines of source code and replace across multiple documents.

Issue:

In the case, I being the user cannot determine how to find and replace code. I'm sure it wasn't removed, but can't find it using anticipated methods (google, help, forums, etc.) The new interface is completely different from the prior version. See the many comments above regarding users being unable to find and replace code.

Observations:

A. Find & Replace dialogue (command + F)

• Looking at the Filter icons below, what does the filter dialog mean and exactly what does each item do?
  • Aa     Match Case
  • .*       Use regular expressions
  • "        Use whole word
  • |-|       Ignore white space
  • ⌄        Show more
  • x        Close
  • □ Exceptions   not clear what this does

• Assumption: No documented help methods for how to use the new feature is available leaving users in a bind.

B. Search dialogue (items in blue are menu items in Adobe Dreamweaver.

• The blue "folder icons" are adobe dreamweaver menu items
• The "orange ? icons"  are apple system results.
• Assumption: No documented help methods for how to use the new feature is available leaving users in a bind.

Action Item:  Dreamweaver 2015 Find & Replace - Search Method has been removed, I'd put it back.

Pro Tip:

I often look to the Nielsen heuristics to check myself when designing for customers and keep myself and team in check. Here are a few I think may help in becoming a user advocate. I think many of the items below apply to the above use cases.

Link: 10 Heuristics for User Interface Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen

Summary: Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design. They are called "heuristics" because they are broad rules of thumb and not specific usability guidelines.

Visibility of system status

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

Match between system and the real world

The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

User control and freedom

Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.

Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

Error prevention

Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
(Read full article on preventing user errors.)

Recognition rather than recall

Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
(Read full article on recognition vs. recall in UX.)

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Help and documentation

Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

Known Issues:

Also, I looked at the adobe "known issues" after Googling Find & Replace Dreamweaver 2017 and found this page as #2

Dreamweaver Help | Known issues | Dreamweaver CC 2017  .

I'm not sure this provides insight on what I can do to find and replace code.

Should this search functionality issue be added to the "known issues page"?

Find and Replace

• The keyboard shortcut for Skip and Add Next Match to Selection (Ctrl+Alt+R) does not work on Windows.
• If you have multiple documents open in Dreamweaver, the Find field does not get updated when you find in open documents, and then switch to another document.
• If you have the Find dialog box open with the cursor in it, and you then minimize Dreamweaver, the focus in the Find dialog box is lost when you restore Dreamweaver.

[Bovenwijs]

Hi Joebooze, i read about your problem: Search for lines of source code and replace across multiple documents.

You explain the different filters but leave out the "Search text only"-filter (symbol 'T'). This one is bad in its pop-up explanation, but when deselected you can find your lines of code in the current document or even the entire site. I just delivered a site where I had to replace lines of code across multiple documents and after a while of searching this filter gave me the solution. I've explained it some posts back. It seems you are looking for this solution or is my understanding of your problem not the right one?

Good luck!

[Guest]

Thanks Bovenwijs, this is great, I'll give it a shot when I reinstall it. Appreciate your assistance!

Adobe, will there be documentation regarding this solution? I used to get a great book that included a detailed explanation of what ui elements do.

[Kimberly_Elbeid]

To label this as a "feature request" is a tad too charitable. I would like to know which "engineer" has their hands on this screw up. Also I would like to know how I get on the testing team so that I can help prevent these non-designer "engineers" from releasing "upgrades" that mess with the workflow of real designers.

[mahakk20912952]

Hi,

I hope below answers will be helpful:

Answer to 1st question: Where is the "Find All" button?

Find All button won't be present in when you have Find in selected as "Current document". Reason is DW automatically highlights all the matched occurrences with in current doc, so there is no point showing Find All button in case of Find in "Current Document". But you will see "Find All" button for rest of the options.

Same reason you are seeing search panel empty.

Answer to 2nd question:

I haven't found any way to undock the Find & Replace window, but it can be displayed only on top of the current document, taking lot of space.

In the new DW CC2017, Find and Replace is no longer a dialog but a panel,which is the reason you can't enjoy dialog flexibility.We will definitely take your point into consideration. Thanks for the feedback.

[Gabriel_Max]

A panel... what a joke.

[lucianon49468952]

Hello staff,

Thanks for your answer!

>>Find All button won't be present in when you have Find in selected as "Current document".

Having the results just highlighted, without a complete list of the matches found, is not a good idea, because they may be quite easily overlooked, especially when source code takes more than a screen or when searching for short strings. This forces developers to use the arrows all the times, to browse back and forth among all the results found (this, to be sure that no matches will be overlooked).

>>In the new DW CC2017, Find and Replace is no longer a dialog but a panel

This is an important limitation too, especially for users using multiple monitor setups (the possibility to undock as many windows as possible, is a nice feature letting to maximize the area available for editing, but still having everything permanently open, for immediate use --- people using multiple monitor setups are constantly increasing and my productivity has improved a lot since I started to use such setup).

Thanks, Luciano

[Gabriel_Max]

I use three big monitors.

[volot]

>>In the new DW CC2017, Find and Replace is no longer a dialog but a panel

It begs the question; Have the interface designers been informed what the primary function of the Find and Replace functionality is?

The primary function of the Find and Replace functionality is to locate one or many instances of text, i.e. a variable, in one or many files.

- You can no longer search for something in a single file without jumping to the place it was used. You used to be able to see how a variable was initialized, or how an if-test was formulated, without jumping there.

- You can no longer find the right instance of a variable in a document; only the next one. It will count the number, but only show you the next one. Then you have to jump through the document one by one, until you find the right one. Previously you had a search result that showed you half a line with context, now you have no context, and no way to use that context that you used to have, to find the right location. The interface designers ignored the fact that you might want to look at the search result to spot the right place if you search through a large document.

- However, if you search through more than one file, you can get around these limitations, so you can cheat your way around it. Intuitive? I'll leave the question hanging there.

- If you search through more than one file, your search result will take a chunk of the screen, and the panel another. That is why I had neither the Find dialog nor the search dialog on the same screen as my code. You still can move the search result to the site, thank you, and you can also hide the find panel, good. All expectations however is that a panel you toggle on with Ctrl+F should be able to toggle off with Ctrl+F. You can turn on the panel with Ctrl+F but how do you get rid of it without using the mouse?

- The tab order on the Find panel is counter clockwise, and counterproductive. To go from Find text to find context, you move down to the Replace (that you don't need to use most of the time), left to the "Replace" button, "left to the "Replace All" button, and then up to the "Find in" context dropdown. If you used the tab button, chances are you are about to change your search context.

- Also, there are two big arrows to jump between search results. They're completely missed in the tab order, and I suspect you have to use a mouse to move between search results with these. I guess you can say the UI designers got the reading order right. But not the tab order.

- Once you've tabbed your way to the "Find in:" context dropdown, it doesn't work as standard dropdowns any more. If you focus a dropdown and then type "S", or "SS", or "Se", you might have an expectation of what happens, possible the same as it used to happen. In fact, nothing much happens at all. This used to work. It's barely saved by the fact that at least the up and down arrows work, but it is regression.

In short, the new Find and Replace panel could use a brush-over with a focus on keyboard shortcuts and common use cases.

[volot]

Sorry, I big-blundered and twice said "left to the..." where the direction clearly should be right.

[gary.devaan@SCCE]

Not sure who decided to mess up find/replace, I hope you fix it soon. I need to be able to replace the contents out of links. I have to hunt down every <a> tag now and highlight the contents. This was easy before. Don't fix things that don't need to be fixed please!

[Gabriel_Max]

Completely agreed I cannot move to the latest version of DW because of

this missing tag find and replace feature.

[ConsoleGenRL]

I pleaded in the beta to make it more like DW CC 2015 but alas fell on deaf ears.

1. you can't bring up the Find/Replace dialog unless  you have a document open. WTF?
2. It is docked solid and can't be moved like it could in DW CC 2015 (even to another monitor if desired). WTF?
3. CTRL+F to open the dialog. Loog for "Find All" just to the right of the first large text field.

[ConsoleGenRL]

It's a pain I know but you CAN re-install DWCC 2015 and use that till they sort out this mess.

Alas unlike during the beta you cannot have DW CC 2015 and DW CC 2017 open concurrently.

Also the DW CC 2015 and DW CC 2017 desktop icons are identical unlike from the beta.

I pin them to my task bar in Windows 10 - DW CC 2015 on the left and DW CC 2017 on the right.

Still having "Toolbar" hiding menu bar issue (and it can't be dragged elsewhere either). Argh!

Taskbar:

[BenPleysier]

Try dragging from the very start of the bar, in the case below, by dragging the darker parts.

[ConsoleGenRL]

Bingo! You legend!

Persistance pays off!

[Nancy OShea]

Persistance pays off!

Well sort of.  It doesn't stick to the application frame when DW is not maximized. 

Nancy O.

[rickibarnes]

I can't reinstall DW 2015.... it just keeps crashing now. VVVVVVVVVVVVVV angry

[Paul-M]

Did you use the CC clean up tool:

Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

[rickibarnes]

Actually I installed KomodoEdit because I had some urgent work I needed to do and I'd already lost 40 minutes on this Today I have a bit more time on my hands and so I'm going to look into it in more detail. I will probably start there, thanks for the link.

[Preran · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

UPDATE: Feature changes to Find and replace will be available later in 2017. The latest version has some critical bug fixes.

See Dreamweaver 2017.0.1 is now live  for more info.

Thanks,

Preran