This faulty search bar that can't search issue, coupled with other problems I've been encountering for quite some time, has me thinking it's time for a new model.

The search bar should still be able to submit searches. This thread is about what happens if you don't type anything -- Firefox used to send a blank query and it doesn't do that any more (it waits for you to type something). If you have a different problem, could you start a new question?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new/desktop/form

"This thread is about what happens if you don't type anything -- Firefox used to send a blank query and it doesn't do that any more (it waits for you to type something)." Thus, it's faulty.

So was Firefox actually sending a blank query? Seems like if it was, you'd get what you actually get when you enter one blank space and hit enter, which is a 'no results' page. Seems like it actually just said to Firefox on the back end "hey, just load google.com, because nothing was in the field". If I were Google, I'd hate anyone causing a mountain of empty searches to be submitted. So, if that were actually how Firefox was doing it (and somehow I don't think it was), this change would fix that, except now it is getting searches for a single blank space. Why couldn't there be a function of coding logic that says 'hitting enter on an empty search box field loads the home page of the selected search engine', or was there and this was just a 'screw you' to users who liked the feature?

I was always sent to the search page of my preferred search engine. NOT Google. Never used Google. I was never directed there.

It would be nice if this feature still existed.

There is a very busy feedback thread on Mozilla Connect you can vote up:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/independent-search-box-toolbar-no-longer-lets-you-hit-enter-to/td-p/62106

So was Firefox actually sending a blank query? Seems like if it was, you'd get what you actually get when you enter one blank space and hit enter, which is a 'no results' page.

Actually, there is a different result between these two, at least with Google:

• Empty search text: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=
  => Google redirects to its home page (https://www.google.com/webhp?client=firefox-b-d)

• Space search text: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=+
  => Google shows a results page with an error message