a search yielding exactly one person will redirect to that person's page. hotkey ctrl+f triggers focus on search box.

app/controllers/people_controller.rb

@@ -13,16 +13,17 @@ class PeopleController < ApplicationController
 
     @people = Person.search(params[:q]).paginate :page => params[:page], :per_page => 25, :order => 'created_at DESC'
     
-    
-    # dont do it@people.first.diaspora_handle == params[:q]  
-    
     #only do it if it is an email address
     if params[:q].try(:match, Devise.email_regexp)
       webfinger(params[:q])
     end
     
+    if @people.count == 1
+      redirect_to @people.first
+    else
       respond_with @people
     end
+  end
 
   def show
     @person = Person.find(params[:id].to_id)

config/assets.yml

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ javascripts:
     - public/javascripts/rails.js
     - public/javascripts/vendor/jquery.infieldlabel.js
     - public/javascripts/vendor/jquery.tipsy.js
+    - public/javascripts/vendor/jquery.hotkeys.js
     - public/javascripts/vendor/fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.1.pack.js
     - public/javascripts/vendor/fileuploader.js
     - public/javascripts/view.js

public/javascripts/vendor/jquery.hotkeys.js

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/*
+ * jQuery Hotkeys Plugin
+ * Copyright 2010, John Resig
+ * Dual licensed under the MIT or GPL Version 2 licenses.
+ *
+ * Based upon the plugin by Tzury Bar Yochay:
+ * http://github.com/tzuryby/hotkeys
+ *
+ * Original idea by:
+ * Binny V A, http://www.openjs.com/scripts/events/keyboard_shortcuts/
+*/
+
+(function(jQuery){
+	
+	jQuery.hotkeys = {
+		version: "0.8",
+
+		specialKeys: {
+			8: "backspace", 9: "tab", 13: "return", 16: "shift", 17: "ctrl", 18: "alt", 19: "pause",
+			20: "capslock", 27: "esc", 32: "space", 33: "pageup", 34: "pagedown", 35: "end", 36: "home",
+			37: "left", 38: "up", 39: "right", 40: "down", 45: "insert", 46: "del", 
+			96: "0", 97: "1", 98: "2", 99: "3", 100: "4", 101: "5", 102: "6", 103: "7",
+			104: "8", 105: "9", 106: "*", 107: "+", 109: "-", 110: ".", 111 : "/", 
+			112: "f1", 113: "f2", 114: "f3", 115: "f4", 116: "f5", 117: "f6", 118: "f7", 119: "f8", 
+			120: "f9", 121: "f10", 122: "f11", 123: "f12", 144: "numlock", 145: "scroll", 191: "/", 224: "meta"
+		},
+	
+		shiftNums: {
+			"`": "~", "1": "!", "2": "@", "3": "#", "4": "$", "5": "%", "6": "^", "7": "&", 
+			"8": "*", "9": "(", "0": ")", "-": "_", "=": "+", ";": ": ", "'": "\"", ",": "<", 
+			".": ">",  "/": "?",  "\\": "|"
+		}
+	};
+
+	function keyHandler( handleObj ) {
+		// Only care when a possible input has been specified
+		if ( typeof handleObj.data !== "string" ) {
+			return;
+		}
+		
+		var origHandler = handleObj.handler,
+			keys = handleObj.data.toLowerCase().split(" ");
+	
+		handleObj.handler = function( event ) {
+			// Don't fire in text-accepting inputs that we didn't directly bind to
+			if ( this !== event.target && (/textarea|select/i.test( event.target.nodeName ) ||
+				 event.target.type === "text") ) {
+				return;
+			}
+			
+			// Keypress represents characters, not special keys
+			var special = event.type !== "keypress" && jQuery.hotkeys.specialKeys[ event.which ],
+				character = String.fromCharCode( event.which ).toLowerCase(),
+				key, modif = "", possible = {};
+
+			// check combinations (alt|ctrl|shift+anything)
+			if ( event.altKey && special !== "alt" ) {
+				modif += "alt+";
+			}
+
+			if ( event.ctrlKey && special !== "ctrl" ) {
+				modif += "ctrl+";
+			}
+			
+			// TODO: Need to make sure this works consistently across platforms
+			if ( event.metaKey && !event.ctrlKey && special !== "meta" ) {
+				modif += "meta+";
+			}
+
+			if ( event.shiftKey && special !== "shift" ) {
+				modif += "shift+";
+			}
+
+			if ( special ) {
+				possible[ modif + special ] = true;
+
+			} else {
+				possible[ modif + character ] = true;
+				possible[ modif + jQuery.hotkeys.shiftNums[ character ] ] = true;
+
+				// "$" can be triggered as "Shift+4" or "Shift+$" or just "$"
+				if ( modif === "shift+" ) {
+					possible[ jQuery.hotkeys.shiftNums[ character ] ] = true;
+				}
+			}
+
+			for ( var i = 0, l = keys.length; i < l; i++ ) {
+				if ( possible[ keys[i] ] ) {
+					return origHandler.apply( this, arguments );
+				}
+			}
+		};
+	}
+
+	jQuery.each([ "keydown", "keyup", "keypress" ], function() {
+		jQuery.event.special[ this ] = { add: keyHandler };
+	});
+
+})( jQuery );

public/javascripts/view.js

@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
     $(this).fadeIn("slow");
   });
 
-  $("#global_search").hover(
+  $("#q").focus(
     function() {
-      $(this).fadeTo('fast', '1');
-    },
+      $(this).addClass('active');
+    }
+  );
+
+  $("#q").blur(
     function() {
-      $(this).fadeTo('fast', '0.5');
+      $(this).removeClass('active');
     }
   );
 
@@ -77,6 +80,12 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
     form.siblings('.spinner').show();
      $('#request_result li:first').hide();
   });
+
+  // hotkeys
+  $(window).bind('keyup', 'ctrl+f', function(){
+    $("#q").focus();
+  });
+
 });//end document ready
 
 
@@ -142,3 +151,4 @@ $(".getting_started_box").live("click",function(evt){
         0
     },function(evt){ $(this).css('left', '1000px')});
 });
+

public/stylesheets/sass/application.sass

@@ -948,7 +948,6 @@ h1.big_text
 #global_search
   :display inline
   :position relative
-  :opacity 0.5
 
   form
     :display inline
@@ -960,6 +959,14 @@ h1.big_text
       :border none
       :background-color #fff
 
+      :opacity 0.5
+
+      &:hover
+        :opacity 0.8
+
+      &.active
+        :opacity 1
+
     input[type='text']
       :width 200px
       :padding 2px

spec/controllers/people_controller_spec.rb

@@ -15,10 +15,14 @@ describe PeopleController do
   end
 
   describe '#index' do
+    before do
+      @eugene = Factory.create(:person, :profile => {:first_name => "Eugene", :last_name => "w"})
+      @korth  = Factory.create(:person, :profile => {:first_name => "Evan", :last_name => "Korth"})
+    end
+
     it "yields search results for substring of person name" do
-      eugene = Factory.create(:person, :profile => {:first_name => "Eugene", :last_name => "w"})
       get :index, :q => "Eu"
-      assigns[:people].should include eugene
+      assigns[:people].should include @eugene
     end
 
     it 'shows a contact' do
@@ -37,6 +41,16 @@ describe PeopleController do
       assigns[:people].should include user2.person
       response.should be_success
     end
+
+    it "redirects to person page if there is exactly one match" do
+      get :index, :q => "Korth"
+      response.should redirect_to @korth
+    end
+
+    it "does not redirect if there are no matches" do
+      get :index, :q => "Korthsauce"
+      response.should_not be_redirect
+    end
   end
 
   describe '#show' do