When the internet was young, websites served as digital brochures—static pages of information that users would read from top to bottom. The purpose was simple: present information in an organized, accessible format. Users would navigate through menus, click through multiple pages, and piece together the information they needed.

As websites grew more complex and content-rich, this linear approach became insufficient. Users needed a way to quickly find specific information without manually browsing through dozens of pages. Enter the search button — a revolutionary feature that promised to help users locate exactly what they were looking for within a website’s content.

But here’s where the promise fell short of reality.