--- a/src/pyams_default_theme/features/search/portlet/templates/search-results.pt	Wed Jan 09 11:40:57 2019 +0100
+++ b/src/pyams_default_theme/features/search/portlet/templates/search-results.pt	Wed Jan 09 12:16:51 2019 +0100
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <div tal:define="settings view.settings;
 				 renderer_settings view.renderer_settings;"
-	 tal:condition="settings.allow_empty_query or request.params.get('user_search','').strip()"
+	 tal:condition="settings.allow_empty_query or settings.has_user_query(request)"
 	 i18n:domain="pyams_default_theme">
 	<h2>${i18n:settings.title}</h2>
 	<form action="${tales:absolute_url(context)}"