More Firefox keyword fun

October 10, 2005 / Filed under: Browsers, Search, Tutorials

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.

Screen shot of Firefox search box

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:

Screen shot of Netflix search 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:

Screen shot of a Netflix dialog box

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:

Screen shot of Firefox address bar

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.

Comments/Mentions

# Andy Atkinson at 10/11/2005 10:13 pm cst

Great tip. I use the built-in "dict" all the time to search dictionary.com, I'll definitely have to add my own. Now someone needs to come up with a way to store this on a web page (like the google personalized search page) so that you can execute those queries from "any" browser you might be on. You could the search would be saved in your search history for later as well.

# Matthom at 10/12/2005 6:01 am cst

Yeah, great point. I thought of this as well. For example, let's say on a personal site I am developing - I have a bunch of "admin" links, which are straight-forward text links. Instead of using a URL in the href attribute, I could just use the keyword that I already created for that URL.

Using the Netflix example - instead of linking directly to Fever Pitch:

<a href="http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70023958">

I could, instead, link to my personalized keyword:

<a href="netflix fever pitch">

But, obviously that would only work in Firefox.

# Becky at 10/13/2005 7:26 am cst

One more great reason to use Firefox! Thanks.

# Sue at 10/18/2005 7:28 am cst

Actually, I think you can save a step here. In Firefox, if the URL is one word - epicurious, wikipedia, netflix, google, froogle - you don't need to set up the keyword at all. Just try wikipedia hysteria in the Location bar and hit return. Magic!

# Matthom at 10/18/2005 7:51 am cst

Sue, thanks for your feedback. However, I'm not sure I follow what you mean. Isn't the URL always one word? The wikipedia hysteria example works, but I'm not sure it works for any text box. But what do I know? This is all new to me.

# roklobsta at 10/27/2005 3:48 am cst

very cool! i love firefox and i love netflix. oh the joy of having netflix in my search bar! bliss!

# Alex at 11/8/2008 2:36 am cst

well andy... you can. As long as you are prepared/able to install the delicious add-on to "any" browser you might be on.