diff --git a/C4/Search.pm b/C4/Search.pm
index 340378ef3c..b9bea2c50c 100644
--- a/C4/Search.pm
+++ b/C4/Search.pm
@@ -877,11 +877,11 @@ sub buildQuery {
 		$_ =~ s/  / /g;    # remove extra spaces
     	$_ =~ s/^ //g;     # remove any beginning spaces
 		$_ =~ s/ $//g;     # remove any ending spaces
-    	$_ =~ s/:/=/g;     # causes probs for server
     	$_ =~ s/==/=/g;    # remove double == from query
 
 	}
-		
+	$query =~ s/:/=/g;
+	$limit =~ s/:/=/g;
 	$query_cgi =~ s/^&//;
 
 	# append the limit to the query
diff --git a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/masthead.inc b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/masthead.inc
index 64fcd546ac..3d0bcc84e6 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/masthead.inc
+++ b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/masthead.inc
@@ -10,18 +10,18 @@
 
 <div id="opac-main-search">
    
-    <form name="searchform" method="post" action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" id="searchform">
+    <form name="searchform" method="get" action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" id="searchform">
 	<label for="masthead_search"> Search <!-- TMPL_IF name="mylibraryfirst" --> <!-- TMPL_IF name="loggedinusername" -->(in <!-- TMPL_VAR name="LoginBranchcode" --> only)<!-- /TMPL_IF --><!-- /TMPL_IF --></label>
 	<select name="idx" id="masthead_search">
-        <option selected="selected" value="">Library Catalog</option>
-        <option value="ti">Title</option>
-        <option value="au">Author</option>
-        <option value="su">Subject</option>
-		<option value="isbn">ISBN</option>
-        <option value="se">Series</option>
-        <option value="callnum">Call Number</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="kw" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="">Library Catalog</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="ti" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="ti">Title</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="au" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="au">Author</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="su" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="su">Subject</option>
+		<option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="isbn" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="isbn">ISBN</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="se" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="se">Series</option>
+        <option <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="callnum" -->selected="selected"<!-- /TMPL_IF --> value="callnum">Call Number</option>
 </select>
-        <input type="text" name="q" style="width: 30%;" />
+        <input type="text" name="q" <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="ms_value" -->value="<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="ms_value" -->" <!-- /TMPL_IF --> style="width: 30%;" />
         <!-- TMPL_IF name="mylibraryfirst" --><!-- TMPL_IF name="loggedinusername" -->
             <input name="limit" value="<!-- TMPL_VAR name="LoginBranchcode" -->" type="hidden" />
         <!-- /TMPL_IF --><!-- /TMPL_IF -->
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 	</ul></div><!-- /TMPL_IF --></div>
 
 	<div id="breadcrumbs" class="yui-g">
+
 <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="searchdesc" --><p><!-- TMPL_IF name="total" --><strong>&ldquo;<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_desc" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_desc" -->&rdquo; </strong>returned <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="total" --> results. <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="available" -->Showing only <strong>available</strong> items. <a href="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_cgi" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_cgi_not_availablity" -->">Show all items</a><!-- TMPL_ELSE -->Limit to <a href="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_cgi" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_cgi" -->&amp;limit=available">currently available items.</a><!-- /TMPL_IF --><!-- TMPL_IF NAME="related" --> (related searches: <!-- TMPL_LOOP NAME="related" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="related_search" --><!-- /TMPL_LOOP -->). <!-- /TMPL_IF -->
 
 <a href="/cgi-bin/koha/opensearch?<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_cgi" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_cgi" -->&count=10&amp;startPage=1"><img title="RSS Feed for search <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_desc" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_desc" -->" alt="RSS Feed for search <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_desc" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_desc" -->" src="<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="themelang" -->/../images/feed-icon-16x16.png" border="0" /></a>
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@
 <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="searchdesc" -->
 <strong>No Result found !</strong>
 <p>
-    No results match your search for <span style="font-weight: bold;">&ldquo;<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="searchdesc" -->&rdquo;</span> in <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="LibraryName" --> Catalog.
+    No results match your search for <span style="font-weight: bold;">&ldquo;<!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="query_desc" --><!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="limit_desc" -->&rdquo;</span> in <!-- TMPL_VAR NAME="LibraryName" --> Catalog.
 </p>
 <!-- TMPL_ELSE -->
 <strong> No result found !</strong>
diff --git a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules/opac-results.tmpl b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules/opac-results.tmpl
index f6aed4384e..ec2bdc7289 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules/opac-results.tmpl
+++ b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules/opac-results.tmpl
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="total" -->
 <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="scan" -->
     <h1>Scan Index:</h1>
-    <form action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" method="post">
+    <form action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" method="get">
         <table>
             <tr>
                 <td>
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
         </table>
     </form>
     
-    <form action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" method="post">
+    <form action="/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl" method="get">
         <table>
             <tr>
                 <th>Term/Phrase</th>
diff --git a/opac/opac-search.pl b/opac/opac-search.pl
index 1abc7e3863..55e6c6ddb7 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search.pl
@@ -361,10 +361,19 @@ my @operators;
 my @indexes;
 @indexes = split("\0",$params->{'idx'});
 
+# if a simple index (only one)  display the index used in the top search box
+if (@indexes[0] && !@indexes[1]) {
+	$template->param(@indexes[0] => 1);
+}
 # an operand can be a single term, a phrase, or a complete ccl query
 my @operands;
 @operands = split("\0",$params->{'q'}) if $params->{'q'};
 
+# if a simple search, display the value in the search box
+if (@operands[0] && !@operands[1]) {
+    $template->param(ms_value => @operands[0]);
+}
+
 # limits are use to limit to results to a pre-defined category such as branch or language
 my @limits;
 @limits = split("\0",$params->{'limit'}) if $params->{'limit'};