Comments on: Impress Your Friends and Co-Workers: Obscure Firefox Keyword Search

By: Kate Foy

Kate Foy — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:23:33 +0000

Now this is a great tip! Many thanks. Going to save me lots of clicks and time.

By: Ann Oro

Ann Oro — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:55:54 +0000

It’s amazing how a little trick will end up saving a lot of time. Thanks for posting this, including the link to the by-nc-sa-2.0 portion of the url. I always go to the main screen, then go to advanced search to find images. So the keyword search is a double bonus for me.

By: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:24:56 +0000

Here’s my favourite trick along kind of similar lines:

- install OpenSearchFox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3698

Once you have done that, any site whose search engine you use a lot you can install as a local search engine in Firefox with one click.

- install Context Search https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/240

Then, any text on any page can be highlighted and searched in that engine through the Context Search menu that will appear when you right-click the highlighted text. VERY handy. I made a short movie about it last year http://www.edtechpost.ca/gems/search_demo/ but then forgot to post it

By: Michael Willits

Michael Willits — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:02:00 +0000

Not sure if you already know about this, but thought I’d add my two cents for everyone.

You can also add search engines directly into the Firefox search box. To do so, click on the little down arrow on the left side of the search box, which will reveal a drop down list in which you can choose from among several preset search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Wikipedia. On some sites with search boxes, clicking on the down arrow will reveal an option to “Add [name of site] to your list of default search engine options.

The other option in this same drop down menu is to select “Manage Search Engines…,” which opens a new window that allows adding, deleting, and reorganizing the listing. Adding new search engines is quite easy. In the same window, simply click on the “Get more search engines…” link here: http://tinyurl.com/create.php

This takes you to the Firefox Add-ons site. From here, adding engines is just like adding other Firefox extensions.

Lots more are available over at the Mycroft Project site (including the Flickr CC search example) located here: http://mycroft.mozdev.org/

Of course, you can also add the Mycroft Project search engine plugin http://tinyurl.com/3mk93n to avoid the extra step of going to the site, searching…

I have nine search engines in my listing right now. Like the keyword search, they definitely save a lot of time. Hope this helps!

By: David

David — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:21:35 +0000

Thanks - one of my favorite search option in Firefox disappeared the last time I upgraded but now I can do it this way.

By: D'Arcy Norman

D'Arcy Norman — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:00:13 +0000

This is the biggest thing I miss when using Safari. I miss being able to just type “flickr calgary zoo” or “wikip educational technology” and having it just Do The Right Thing™.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:22:30 +0000

Awesome tip.

Trying to figure out how to set up Chris’s ‘x-here’ hack… I need more coffee.

By: Britt Watwood

Britt Watwood — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:01:49 +0000

Great tip! (and Happy Birthday!!!)

By: todd

todd — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:04:59 +0000

In the old days it wasn’t as automatic, you had to do a search, find the search term in the resulting URL (and if you couldn’t see it, use a bookmarklet to change post/get), then change the term to “%s” and bookmark that URL. It’s nice to see they’ve made it more convenient!

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:28:55 +0000

Alternatively, install bNub as a Firefox search engine. This accesses YubNub so that the command “ls flickr” in the search box lists flickr-based commands defined by others (or, indeed, yourself) and shows “flcc” as the appropriate command for doing the search shown above. To my mind, this is a little more intuitive in so far as you’re using the search box to, erm, search.