Search Bar Mockup
Search bar mockup with your query typed in, a magnifier icon and a text cursor, for a title card, a thumbnail or a video intro. Free, and nothing is uploaded.
What is a search bar?
A search bar, also called a search box or search field, is the single-line text field where you type a query. HTML has its own input type for it, and it usually comes with a magnifying glass icon and a text cursor showing where the next letter goes.
As a graphic, a search bar with a query already typed in presents a topic as something someone looked up. That's why it's such a common opener for videos, thumbnails and slides.
How to make a search bar graphic
Start on the blank canvas, or load the image or video it goes over. Type the query into Text. The bar shows it after a magnifier, with a cursor in the Accent color right after the last letter.
Theme picks a white or dark bar, Size sets its width as a share of the frame, and Position X and Position Y place it. If you leave Text empty, the bar shows a gray Search placeholder and no cursor.
Why does a long query run past the search bar?
The query is drawn on one line and doesn't wrap, so a long one runs past the rounded end. Keep it to a few words, or raise Size until the bar is wider than the text.
The bar has fully rounded ends and a soft shadow, and the query is set in Archivo.
Settings for a YouTube thumbnail and a slide title
YouTube asks for 16:9 thumbnails at least 640 pixels wide, and the 1920 by 1080 canvas already is one. Set Size to 0.8 for a bar about 184 pixels tall with the query about 71 pixels high. That's big enough to read at thumbnail size, as long as the query stays at three or four words.
For a slide title over a bright photo, pick Theme Dark so the bar stands out from the picture, and set Accent to your brand color for the cursor.
Leave Text empty for a bare field with its gray placeholder, then save a second image with the query typed in, and you have a before and after. If you want a row of topics under the bar, the Tag Pill Generator makes those.
Saving the search bar
Thumbnails need to stay small. YouTube's limit for thumbnails uploaded from a phone is 2 MB, and a PNG of a photo with the bar over it can go past that, while a high-quality JPG rarely does. Over a plain background, PNG stays small and sharp.