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  • Have country/region value in control center stick in new sessions (unaffected by the language switch when searching)

  • SuggestionsDone

Kagi allows setting a value for Country/Region in the control center. Here is mine, set to "International".

This value is influenced by the switch that is shown when searching. Here, I am restricting a search for "pizza" to an Italian context:

Now, my global country/region option is set to Italy, too:

But I don't want all my future searches to be in the "Italy" context.

My expectation is that setting a value for the switch when searching will change the language/region context for that session only. Otherwise, why having a global option at all?

Being a multilingual user, who searches mostly in English, I find this frustrating. I have to keep that option under control each time I search, and I waste a search query every time I can't verify it was in the right context.

  • Vlad replied to this.

    swap Region works like any other setting. Do you want to separate region in search result page and the global setting?

    If the two differ, what region is used for your next search and what is the purpose of the global setting?

    Also which one is shown in the control center?

    Can you clarify the ask and cover edge cases please.

    • swap replied to this.

        Vlad Do you want to separate region in search result page and the global setting?
        Vlad If the two differ, what region is used for your next search and what is the purpose of the global setting?

        global setting should have what I will always see in the next search (next browser session, next open browser window, ...). Changing its value affects all future queries.

        search result page (accessing kagi.com and setting it there before the query is included here) should have what I expect to see in this search (this session). Changing its value affects this search only (or the one I am about to input in case of accessing kagi.com).

        I have the same issue with the newly introduced region bangs. Cool feature, but they change things globally. They should change things for the current search only.

        • Vlad replied to this.

              swap When you say current search do you mean just the next search, and the second search will revert to the global setting or it should stay for the duration of the entire search session (until browser tab is closed)?

              What happens if you change region to say Germany, and then in control center you change region to Italy. What should be used for the next search?

              If you change safe search in control center, should this change reflect for the next search/current search sessions or should it change the global setting (same for theme etc)

              • swap replied to this.

                  It should simply behave like every other filter in the app. It is surprising and bothersome that it changes the setting permanently, and invokes confusing behavior with the "clear" button - since you can't actually "clear" it.

                  • Vlad replied to this.

                    z64

                    It should simply behave like every other filter in the app

                    No other "filter" has it's mirror as a global setting so we should understand this fully from an end-to-end UX perspective.

                        Vlad When you say current search do you mean just the next search, and the second search will revert to the global setting or it should stay for the duration of the entire search session (until browser tab is closed)?

                        I think that the most consistent way would be the current search session (until browser tab is closed). Next time I access kagi, global settings is applied again.

                        What happens if you change region to say Germany, and the in control center you change region to Italy. What should be used for the next search?

                        Like this?

                        Window on the left stays with Germany. If I close that window and open a new one, it should be set to Italy.

                        Similarly, if in the window on the left I suddenly search for !fr test, it will switch to France as expected. But, the global setting (on the right) stays with Italy as well as any newly opened window.

                        If you change safe search in control center, should this change reflect for the next search/current search sessions or should it change the global setting (same for theme etc)

                        Have not thought much about other settings but, to me, anything that I am able to change from here (see below) AND that has a corresponding global setting, will be a temporary change (current session)

                        I am uncertain if it would all make sense, the same as with the country/region settings.

                        P.S. please note that my country/region is set to France in the last screenshot. This is because I performed the !fr test query before. This is the annoying part :-)

                        • Vlad replied to this.

                            I'm speaking as a user of the app: It is useless to me that it syncronizes the two. I waste my time having to reset it back to US. Instead of just closing the tab, I have to go out of my way to open the setting again and change it back.

                            When I change regions with the filter, I intend to quickly check results in other regions, then go back to US, 100% of the time.

                              @Vlad the following behaves like I would want to see language to behave:

                              I perform the same search. First, I open the window on the left. I search for test with a lens activated.

                              THEN, I open the window on the right and search for test. The lens is turned off.

                              I don't know if lenses can also be globally set in the control panel, I have not checked, but I would like languages to behave like that. With the addition that a default one for a new window can be globally specified.

                              Edit: don't mind France in the second screenshot. It's there because...I forgot to switch back to International, or whatever 👎️

                                z64

                                I intend to quickly check results in other regions, then go back to US, 100% of the time.

                                By "then" you mean in a new tab?

                                    @Vlad Sure:

                                    • New tab
                                    • Back to homepage
                                    • On my phone / different device

                                    Filter's don't persist through any of these things. It is frustrating that region is the exception.

                                      swap By Control Center I meant this:

                                      What should happen when the user makes that change?

                                      • swap replied to this.

                                          z64

                                          Back to homepage

                                          @swap If you change the region in search results, and go back to the home page (for example by clicking the logo) in the same search session, do you expect it to stay or revert to global setting?

                                          • swap replied to this.

                                              Vlad

                                              I had not noticed that third language selector. That one inspires me to be a global option as well.

                                              Vlad

                                              I admit that the (now) two global option switches may suggest different things because of where they are located. Still, the better UX approach to me is that, the moment I change an option, something must change in the system's behavior. It should change the current search session to France, yes.

                                              But, if in the same session, a moment later, I change the one in the main panel to Germany, the one on the right stays with France.

                                              This assuming that the selector on the right needs to stay where it is right now.

                                              • Vlad replied to this.

                                                    swap

                                                    Huh... 🙂

                                                    The one in control center is a global setting. You say that you expect it to influence your current filter setting and this complicates the workflow propsoed here (where global and "filter" region are two different things).

                                                    Also can you address the expectation when going back to home page in the same search session?

                                                    • swap replied to this.

                                                        Vlad The one in control center is a global setting. You say that you expect it to influence your current filter setting and this complicates the workflow propsoed here (where global and "filter" region are two different things).

                                                        I’m confused now. I think that one of the two “global” ones should go. Three settings are too much. Which one, not sure.

                                                        Vlad Also can you address the expectation when going back to home page in the same search session?

                                                        I tried, in the second reply of my previous post. If I make a change, the change should be reflected somewhere including the current window. But, I also think that this is a minor issue, and it also depends on which global switch stays.

                                                        • Vlad replied to this.

                                                              swap Assuming we remove the region setting in the control center, would you expect that going back to home page your region setting is reset to global ?

                                                              • swap replied to this.

                                                                  Vlad

                                                                  I will call one local, the other global.

                                                                  I will pretend that the one under "All Settings" does not exist (that one would global, too).

                                                                  Current situation:
                                                                  local: France
                                                                  global: France

                                                                  I change local to Germany.
                                                                  local: Germany
                                                                  global: France

                                                                  I do my searches, and then I close the window. I open a new window.
                                                                  local: France
                                                                  global: France

                                                                  I change global to Italy. I stay in the current window (click on the logo, whatever).
                                                                  local: Italy
                                                                  global: Italy

                                                                  I do my searches, and then I close the window. I open a new window. This is the situation:
                                                                  local: Italy
                                                                  global: Italy

                                                                  (nothing has changed). I change local to Austria. I stay in the current window
                                                                  local: Austria
                                                                  global: Italy

                                                                  I change global to International. I stay in the current window.
                                                                  local : International
                                                                  global: International

                                                                  I change local to Algeria. I stay in the current window.
                                                                  local : Algeria
                                                                  global : International

                                                                  I close the window. Two hours later, I open kagi again.
                                                                  local : International
                                                                  global: International

                                                                  @z64 would this make sense to you?

                                                                  @Vlad please note that the new region bangs here would behave exactly like local.

                                                                  • z64 replied to this.

                                                                      swap Yes, I think that more or less sounds in-line with how filters work normally, except that you propose that the sync should be "one-way" from global -> local, instead of both directions as it is now. Let me know if I got that right.

                                                                      While I find any syncronization between the two unecessary, I would be fine with this - it is only the local -> global sync that I want gone 😄

                                                                      • swap replied to this.