Flex saves the day, perhaps.

app/static/css/screen-dark.css

@@ -71,12 +71,44 @@ nav             { font-family: sans-serif}
     margin-bottom: 10px;
 }
 
-.mini-search{
+.topline-node-wrapper {
+    display: flex;
+	align-items: center;
+}
+
+input[type="text"] {
+    -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; // Safari/Chrome, other WebKit
+    -moz-box-sizing: border-box;    // Firefox, other Gecko
+    box-sizing: border-box;         // Opera/IE 8+
+}
+
+.topline-search{
+    display: block;
     vertical-align: middle;
     overflow-y: auto;
     margin-bottom: 10px;
+    width: auto;
 }
 
+.topline-query {
+	flex: auto;
+	display: inline;
+    vertical-align: middle;
+	margin-right: 5px;
+}
+
+.topline-cli {
+	flex: auto;
+    vertical-align: middle;
+	width: 100%;
+}
+
+
+#mini-cli {
+	width: 100%;
+}
+
+
 /*
 @media screen and (min-width: 900px) {
     .navigation {

app/templates/base.html

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
         <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"
                            title="Agora" href={{url_for('agora.search_xml')}}>
 	    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Merriweather:300,700,700italic,300italic|Open+Sans:700,400" />
-	    <link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type="text/css" href="{{ url_for('static',filename='css/screen-dark.css')}}?uncached19" id="theme-link" />
+	    <link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type="text/css" href="{{ url_for('static',filename='css/screen-dark.css')}}?uncached20" id="theme-link" />
     <script type=text/javascript src="{{url_for('static', filename='js/main.js')}}"></script>
     <!-- considering this way of integrating hypothesis, although I like "standard" (sidebar) mode.
     <script type="application/json" class="js-hypothesis-config">
@@ -65,27 +65,29 @@
             </div>
         <hr />
 
-        <div class="topline-node"
-            <span class="cli-form">
-                <form action="/exec" method="get">
-                    <strong>node →</strong> <input id="mini-cli" type="text" value="{{qstr}}" name="q" autofocus>
-                </form>
-            </span>
+        <div class="topline-node">
+            <div class="topline-node-wrapper">
+				<div class="topline-query">
+					<strong>query:</strong> 
+				</div>
+				<div class="topline-cli">
+					<form action="/exec" method="get">
+						<input id="mini-cli" type="text" value="{{qstr}}" name="q" autofocus>
+					</form>
+				</div>
+            </div>
         </div>
 
-        <div class="mini-search">
-        <strong>on the internet ↪</strong>
-            <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q={{q}}">google</a>
+        <div class="topline-search">
+        <strong>↳ search on:</strong>
+            <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q={{q}}">g</a>
             | <a href="https://www.duckduckgo.com/{{q}}">ddg</a>
             | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/{{q}}">wp</a>
-            | <a href="https://twitter.com/search/?f=live&q={{q}}">twitter</a>
+            | <a href="https://twitter.com/search/?f=live&q={{q}}">tw</a>
                 | <a href="https://github.com/search?q={{q}}">gh</a>
                 | <a href="http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problems?combine={{q}}">uia</a>
                 | <a href="https://www.pubpub.org/search?q={{q}}">pp</a>
-            </div>
-            <div class="mini-search">
-            <strong>in the agora ⬎</strong>
-            </div>
+        </div>
         </nav>
 
     <div class="content">