More Firefox keyword fun Oct10 '05

Doug’s feedback yesterday alerted me to a feature that I did not know existed.

I always knew you could use keywords, instead of bookmark icons, in Firefox - but I didn’t know you can also apply a keyword directly to a search - any search on any web site. That is, any web site that has a search text box.

This was a little confusing, to me, at first, so I’ll explain it here in detail, for those unaware.

Firefox search utility

Firefox already comes equipped with a search box, in the address bar, which comes pre-installed with various search engines (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Dictionary.com, eBay), and you can add more.

This search utility functions the same way that a keyword search would, so what Doug referenced is redundant, for those included search engines.

However, think about how many other sites you perform a search at. Wouldn’t it be easier to save a step, by searching right in the address bar, instead of waiting until the site loads, each time?

Netflix

For example, at Netflix, if I "right click" on the search text box:

... a sub-menu appears, which allows you to Add a Keyword for this Search.

Once you click on that, you are presented with the 'Add Bookmark' dialog, which allows you to give a custom name for your search, which is what you use in the address bar:

As you can see, I named this custom Netflix search, 'Netflix Search,' and applied a keyword of 'netflix.'

To conduct this search from the address bar (without visiting Netflix first), you can just type, netflix [searchterm], where [searchterm] is the movie you are looking for:

Notice how I applied the keyword first (netflix), followed by a space, and then the search term (fever pitch).

This will take you directly to the search results, which saves a step.

Although it’s just a single step - it still saves time. Add up all those steps, and that results in time lost.

Categories: Browsers , Search , Tutorials

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