Ask Cortana / Ask Bing - Discussion

With these discussions, I see Elliot asking "how do you want it?" and the response is "we want it!" Obviously, as the developers are rebuilding these features from the ground up, recreating the exact same thing wouldn't really be faster, or better, than iterating on it to make something better. When I first tried out Edge, I was floored by the genius implementation of many features like the Edge Hub and Download Manager. Obviously, I would love to see them return - but that isn't to say they were in some perfect, unchangeable form. Nothing could be more true than with Ask Cortana.

How did I use the feature, and why didn't it work for me? Well, I didn't ask cortana, to be honest. I used the "Search for web for" tool instead. There are a few reason for this.

First, my web browser of choice is Google. Sure, Bing is a good search engine, but I don't like it as much. Whether this is because I've spent years signed into a google account, whether it's because I'm used to the way Google search terms should be worded for optimal responses, or because, maybe, they use subliminal brainwashing techniques, (I'm kidding about that last one, of course!) I'm usually asking Google instead of Bing.

Second, I felt like Ask Cortana was severely hampered by Edge's pane-ful design scheme. Yes, panes are great for many things: The Edge hub (favorites, history, etc) and Set Aside Tabs are ideally accessed in a side panel layout. Panes that have a ton of information, such as the Settings pane and Ask Cortana, are difficult to read and use. I don't know the real reason for this, but the reason doesn't matter: Cortana shouldn't be in a pane / side panel, and with the design choices being made in Edge Insider, it fortunately doesn't have to be.

Third, and most important, is the fact that I can't edit my search terms or search style. Let's look at an example:

I want to know about possible bugs introduced with the newest version of Edge, build 18363. I'd rather not type out 18363, so I select the text and Ask Cortana. After asking cortana, I would want to type the text "bugs in Edge " to create a full search of "bugs in edge build 18363". This applies to almost all my searches, whether I need the "definition" or "images" of a character in Skyrim. Instead of being able to edit my search term directly, I have to scroll to the bottom of the page and choose "Search for (something) on Bing". That's just clicking "search the web for", but with extra steps.

So, why would I want to "Ask Cortana" instead of searching the web? Well, opening a new tab, getting a small piece of info, and then closing that tab feels a bit clunky. A popup window that can be transformed into its own tab or window, where search results can be refined, and where any search engine can be chosen, would be great.

To conclude, Which search results would you rather have?

(The screenshot within chrome is a cropped image of the fantastic Black Menu for Google extension. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/black-menu-for-google/eignhdfgaldabilaaegmdfbajngjmoke Sadly, Black Menu doesn't search from the right click menu, (I faked it here) so I rarely use it.)

I want to say a few more things that are their own standalone ideas.

First, Ask Cortana/Ask Bing feels a lot like an extension, not a core part of a browser. It's tied to one tab, it doesn't use Fluent Design well, and Cortana is not a major part of Windows 10 any more. However, "letting extensions handle it" is what led me to dislike Chrome. There are a lot of extensions I've learned about just from reading other posts on this forum, and wish had come with the browser itself. However, none of them blend well with Edge or each other. I also don't know how dedicated their developers are, or how stable the code is. Having great navigation tools and perks built into the browser means I don't have to read through dozens of poorly researched "top ten chrome extensions" lists, delving into each extension's overcomplicated settings pages, and learning a completely different layout style for every feature. And finally, if "Search the web for" is going to be a built in part of the browser, I shouldn't have to install a better version of it.

I also want to mention that I'm treating "Ask Cortana" as completely different from Cortana's automatic "helpful tips" from the address bar.

Elliot Kirk