This is a simple little trick for all those who use search engines extensively. Using this trick you won’t have to go to the search page of your favorite search engine. Simply type the query in your Firefox address bar and hit it. The search results will be shown to you from your selected search engine.
Now the ‘How-To ‘ part…
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Open you Firefox browser and go to Bookmarks – Organize Bookmarks or just use Ctrl + Shift + B and you will be on the Organize Bookmarks page.
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In the left pane, select ‘Bookmarks Menu’ (recommended, to avoid clutter in the bookmarks toolbar) or ‘Bookmarks Toolbar’ as per your choice.
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Right Click on the selected item and choose ‘New Bookmark’. A small window with the new bookmark properties will open up.
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In the Name field (Alt + N), put your search engine’s name, say ‘Google Search’, without quotes obviously.
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In the Location (Alt + L), put this string, http://www.google.com/search?&q=%s
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In the above step you can also use your regional Google link, like Indian users can use http://www.google.co.in/search?&q=%s
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Leave the ‘Tags’ field as it is and move on to the ‘Keyword’ (Alt + K) part. Here enter how would you identify your search engine, i.e. if you have to choose from multiple search engines what would you use to select the desired one, say Google. Keep it simple and if possible just a single alphabet. For example, I am entering ‘g’, again without quotes
This is the most important of all. -
Finally, if you want that the search should open in a sidebar, tick mark the checkbox (Alt + H) at the bottom of that window which says : ‘Load this bookmark in sidebar’. This is how it will look like at the end. Just press the ‘Add’ button.
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Now you are all set to use the super simple search without having to go to the search engine page.
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As per our example, if you want to search for shoutmeloud, just enter ‘g shoutmeloud’ (no quotes please..) in your Firefox address bar and hit the go button. If you have followed the tips like a nice student then you should see the search results !!
In 10 simple steps you have setup your browser address bar to give you the results of your search query and that too using search engine of your choice.
Here are a few more links you can use for setting up other search engines :
- About.com – http://search.about.com/fullsearch.htm?terms=%s
- Ask.com Search – http://www.ask.com/web?&q=%s
- Bing Search – http://www.bing.com/search?q=%s
- Google Search - http://www.google.com/search?&q=%s
- Google Image Search – http://images.google.com/images?&q=%s
Do you use any such trick and want to share like our guest author Sapan. See Shoutmeloud Revenue sharing program.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I prefer using the search box which is right to the address bar.. The shortcut for accessing that is CTRL + K
Good info for personalize search. but i prefer also CTRL + K
Wow !
You are teaching the tricks to make Firefox like Google Chrome ??
It’s really good tip to search within Firebox address bar.
Isn’t it ?
thanks for your opinion and good to know that u liked the trick Surender… In my opinion this is a real good trick… for most of us, we use a max of 4-5 search engines, and as I have mentioned in the post about setting the keyword, if u keep it say the first word of the search engine like g for Google and b for Bing u don’t have to remember much…
Try Omnibar addon for firefox… It automatically integrates location bar and search bar into one. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8823
seems to be a quite useful addon for Firefox.. does much more than searching !! thanks for sharing Abhijeet.
Nice Trick, Thanks for sharing it, I used Ctrl +K then down arrow key in order to change the search engine, i will give this trick a try.
@all,
thanks a lot for your opinions.. I think, I am an odd man out… most of u use Ctrl+K for your searches, while I used this…
Thanks for this, I followed the steps and it worked fine for me. This helps a bit, simplifies a lot of stuff.
hey George, m glad to know that u liked the tip and that it was useful to u..
Personally, I prefer searching using this method instead of the Ctrl+K one…
Thats a cool tip.
I don’t like Yahoo! to search on what I type in address bar.
That is the reason why I am addicted to Chrome.
I love this tip.
I think, Firefox has something for everyone out there… u just have to think of that and either u have a trick or an addon for doing the same..
good to know Avi, that u loved the tip.
You can just right click any search box (like google or wikipedia) and then select “add a keyword for this search” from the drop down menu.
This will create a new bookmark that you can put anywhere into your bookmarks, I chose to create a new folder called “URL search” where I can put all of my new search engines.
Check out this mozilla page for instructions: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Smart+keywords
that’s really an ‘Easier Way’…. instead of 10 steps, it reduces to say 2 steps.. wow !!
thanks for sharing this trick buddy…
No problem, glad to help.