I was thinking maybe like a search bar to make it easier to find programs instead of flipping through menus but also make fit haikus retro style or somehow integrate it with the current dock we have now
Install QuickLaunch from HaikuDepot.
I believe that QuickLaunch should be a part of Haiku, but right now itās a standalone application.
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Oh I forgot about that lol but yeah I totally agree with you on that maybe completely rework the dock entirely but other than that thatās the only thing I would want changed in haiku but I would also recommend do it in a way that still sort of has that retro BeOS style to it eitherwise haiku sort of lose its charm a little bit in my opinion
Just my two cents, but it might be better to just use a dedicated application launcher unless you really want the OS to feel different.
But thatās not to say that a dedicated search tool for files or applications is a completely modern thing. Appleās operating system for the Macintosh computers had Sherlock from Mac OS 8.5 through Mac OS X 10.5ā¦
If Haiku supports it, might even be neat to have a background-able application (or extend Deskbar) which can respond to a keypress and pop-up a ārun applicationā dialog with search capability.
That is exactly what Quicklaunch, already suggested in this thread, does. Bind it to a keyboard shortcut from shortcut hreferences if you want to.
While Iām not a fan of a search bar being in every window Microsoft style, I definitely wish the Leaf menu had a search bar in it, or that there was a little Spotlight-like applet pinned by the clock, or something of that sort sometime in the future like R2 or R3 
One of the things I really love about the Finder on the Mac is holding Command+shift with A can bring up Applications, H brings up the home folder, and U brings up utilities.
While Haiku doesnāt have a āSpotlight-likeā search out of the box (thereās some good apps in the Depot), one of the very first things I do is map Command+Shift+A to applications, Command+Shift+H to home, and Command+Shift+P to preferences (instead of utilities, since Haiku doesnāt have a utilities folder).
Iāve copied the screenshot over from an old post, but basically this is Shortcuts prefs and what it looks like when Iāve got it set up. /boot/system/Tracker /boot/system/apps is what I use to get to all the apps fast. /boot/home is the home folder and /boot/system/preferences is preferences.
Now, you might be asking how the heck all this is relevant to the search bar question ā and Iām about to show you how 
Itās usually off by default, but in Tracker preferences, turn on ātype ahead filteringā. Now, when you have any folder open (including applications, home, or preferences), you can literally start typing to get to what you want. So, combined with our hotkeys, we now have a set of unofficial launchers.
For example, opening Preferences and typing ābackā will get you to Backgrounds, where you can just press return (or enter) to open it. Same with an application or something in your home folder. Itās fast and doesnāt need any extra packages 
although there are some you can install too like QuickLaunch, mentioned in the thread
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