Firefox and Safari (keyword browsing wins)

August 11, 2004 / Filed under: Browsers, Efficiency

I’ve just started using Firefox. I’ve used Safari for a long time now, but everywhere I look, I see more praise for Firefox. So I decided to see "what gives."

It turns out, Firefox is strikingly similar to Safari, in terms of speed and appearance. The navigation and toolbar on Firefox...

Firefox navigation and toolbar

is clean and simple, just like Safari:

Safari navigation and toolbar

Also, many of the same "keyboard shortcuts" that work in Safari, also perform the same actions in Firefox.

However, there is one incredible feature in Firefox that I don’t notice in Safari. Keyword browsing.

I believe versions of Internet Explorer for the PC, allow for this feature – but this is the first time I’ve noticed it on a Mac.

The procedure is simple. You go the address bar, and instead of typing in a URL, or clicking on a bookmark, you can just type a custom keyword in. And that keyword is associated with a URL, and it instantly takes you to that URL.

Keyword bookmarks

Notice in the picture above how I have "associated" a complete URL with a keyword. In this case, the keyword is "bloglines." All I have to do is type that in the address bar, and I’m at the site.

Of course, you can make your keywords as long or as short as you’d like. It’s just more ways to be productive.

Comments/Mentions

# Jim Amos at 8/15/2004 2:15 am cst

Yeah, firefox is where it's at. Definitely.

# Matthom at 8/15/2004 2:58 am cst

Jim, I like Firefox, but I also can't wait for Safari RSS, and Mac OS X Tiger. I am guessing Safari will only get better.

By the way, I love your "War on Web Standards." Great stuff. Except... your intention seemed harmless, but you still managed to rally purely political comments... which I guess is not a surprise.

# Matt at 8/17/2004 11:34 am cst

I use firefox as my main browser. I can only believe more people will be converted when it hits version 1.0.

It's nice to see another matt*.com :)

# Doug at 10/9/2005 12:55 pm cst

It gets better! Right click on a text field on a search engine and select add keyword search. Then you can type your keyword followed by a search term in the address bar and your search will be executed.

I would love to see this feature in Safari; I would also like to be able to see JPEG EXIF data in Safari. Trouble with Firefox is the lack of colorsync or other colour profile support.

# keshav ram at 6/2/2008 9:31 pm cst

Hi Doug

Safari can have the same feature with "keywurl"

I couldn't agree more with you. For example, I assign the keyword 'wp' for wikipedia and then type the following in firefox URL "wp apple" and this will search wikipedia for "Apple" - thats super cool!