Thanks for filing this request.

Sidenote, I wondered if/how this was related to WMDE's work on AdvancedSearch, and I found that per https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/AdvancedSearch/Functional_scope they are not currently planning on including prefix: in their work. Because:

The value of this keyword always includes a namespace", e.g. “Wikipedia” in prefix:Wikipedia:Technische Wünsche. Having namespaces both here and in the namespace selection bar at the bottom (“Search In”) would create a very confusing user interface.

That is true (AFAIK) for the content-projects, but is not true for Meta-wiki and Mediawikiwiki, where the inputbox (or manually typed prefix:) can be used in the main namespaces, e.g. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Learning_patterns and https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Scrum_of_scrums

(Ping @Bmueller just FYI. Definitely an edge-case, and also further complicated by the existence of Special:PrefixIndex (which gives results in a different format), but all good to know. :-)

A couple of questions!

a) The goal here is to make it easier to understand, less confusing for non-technical readers and editors? Or something else?

b) I imagine the change from Wikipedia:Manual of Style in the first (current) example to Help:Manual of Style in the second (proposed) one is accidental and doesn't actually indicate any change in functionality?

c) I don't know if the phrasing is just an example as well, but I'd consider making the text even more obvious, not least because large Wikipedias are often used by non-native speakers. "Only searching [in] pages whose title starts with ..." or something like that?

d) (This is also true for "reset the prefix filter". I don't think you can assume the average Wikipedia reader – or all editors – understands what that means. There's no obvious prefix present anymore. "Search all pages"?)

In T198851#4402862, @Johan wrote:

A couple of questions!

a) The goal here is to make it easier to understand, less confusing for non-technical readers and editors? Or something else?

The primary goal is to address some technical debt (see parent ticket) and at the same try to hide some internal details about the search syntax (the prefix keyword in this case).

b) I imagine the change from Wikipedia:Manual of Style in the first (current) example to Help:Manual of Style in the second (proposed) one is accidental and doesn't actually indicate any change in functionality?

Indeed, it's simply because the suggested output was rendered on my local machine and it was easier to simulate a page in the Help namespace than the Wikipedia namespace (which is reserved). This will properly display Wikipedia:Manual of Style on the english wikipedia if this change is approved.

c) I don't know if the phrasing is just an example as well, but I'd consider making the text even more obvious, not least because large Wikipedias are often used by non-native speakers. "Only searching [in] pages whose title starts with ..." or something like that?

Thanks for your suggestions on the phrasing,

d) (This is also true for "reset the prefix filter". I don't think you can assume the average Wikipedia reader – or all editors – understands what that means. There's no obvious prefix present anymore. "Search all pages"?)

This makes total sense.

OK, I'll take it up to discussion and get some feedback.

@Johan thanks for the feedback!
Yes the goal is really not to remove the prefix keyword, expert users will still be able to use it at will.
I'll move forward and implement your suggestions on the phrasing and wait till the end of next week for possible feedback from the Tech News.

Thanks!

Satisfaction survey reply received.