Almost every blog has a site search form where you just type in the search query and press enter to digg through the archives of that blog. The only drawback here is that you first have to visit the site homepage to locate the search box. And there's also a possibility that the site has no search form at all.This tutorial will show you a very simple Firefox hack that allows you to search any blog straight from the Firefox search bar without having to visit the actual blog. And there's something for IE users as well.
Related: Firefox Search Bar Hacks
First the not-so-good approach though it works with IE: Type the following query in the Google IE toolbar or in the Firefox Search Box with Google selected as the default engine:
site:labnol.blogspot.com adobe captivate
This query will retrieve all documents about Adobe Captivate on Digital Inspiration. You can replace labnol.blogspot.com with any site URL that you intend to search.
You may have know the above trick already but it's tedious since you have to type lot of information for even a one word query. Hence, the simplest way is to add the site search feature to your Firefox search bar itself. Here's how you do it.
Open the Firefox search plugins directory [generally C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins]. Create a new text file using Notepad and paste the following code:
<searchYou can change Digital Inspiration and labnol.blogspot.com depending on which site you want to search from the Firefox search bar.
name="Digital Inspiration"
method="GET"
action="http://www.google.com/search"
queryCharset="utf-8"
>
<input name="q" user>
<input name="sitesearch" value="labnol.blogspot.com">
</search>
Save the above file with an src extension in the same directory [like "di.src"]
If you like to see a nice icon next to the search name, add a 16x16 gif file with exactly the same name in the same location where you placed the di.src file.
That's it - Restart firefox, type Ctrl+K to reach the Firefox Search Box, choose the above engine from the drop-down list and start searching. It makes searching your favorite blogs so much simple and fast.
Related: How to Increase the Firefox Search Bar Width
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/09/learn-to-create-firefox-search-plugin.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Please note that for Firefox 2.0 you'll have to create new search engine plugins, as the file format changes. Firefox 2.0 which will be released next month will include OpenSearch support, and MozSearch. Both are the same, while MozSearch is more Firefox-specific and OpenSearch will also run without any modification on Internet Explorer 7.
See here: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_MozSearch_plugins
OpenSearch specifications: http://opensearch.a9.com/
Written on 25/9/06 11:28 PM
So, CTRL-K is the keyboard shortcut to get to the search box. Is there a keyboard shortcut to actually change search engines?
Written on 26/9/06 2:13 AM
Ctrl+K takes you the firefox search box - now press ctrl+Up or down arrow key to switch firefox search engines.
Written on 26/9/06 2:17 AM
Paul, that's an helpful tutorial if someone wants to create a search plugin for the Mycroft site.
The one above is just a dirty way to do things quickly - no search icon or update URL.
Written on 3/10/06 10:02 AM
yes, now Firefox 2.0 is out and I find a lot of problems making a search, sorry but I don't understand everything in this page http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_MozSearch_plugins
Written on 25/10/06 5:32 AM
How do I get this to work for FF 2?
Written on 10/2/07 6:01 PM
Right Click context menu
How to create right click Context menu search with in the firefox.
Written on 14/4/07 9:47 AM
Or you could just use this sweet extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3682
Written on 25/4/07 2:22 AM
I know I'll get flamed for mentioning IE7 here, but the way to create new search queries in it is so simple. Simple copy the results URL of your favorite search site with the word "TEST" as the search criteria. Paste it in the blank and you have a custom query ready to to. No src files, no google.com engine used, no rebooting the browser. Why can't FF adopt this ultra simple method?
Written on 1/8/07 10:39 PM
I also love the IE style of creating search plugins. The Firefox approach is mainly for Geeks.
Written on 1/8/07 10:44 PM