31 Oct, 2006
How to create or edit a Firefox quick search
I like the quick search facility in firefox; the dictionary search is particularly useful. by typing “dict search-term” into the address bar you get a dictionary definition.
The definitions used to be provided by dictionary.reference.com but for some reason in the last couple of versions it’s been the Merriam-Webster website. I just don’t think the results are as good. I had a look at the search engines available as firefox add ons but dictionary.reference.com wasn’t there so I set about finding a way to change firefox’s behaviour. Here’s what to do…
- Click on “Bookmarks” in Firefox’s menu
- Click “Organise Bookmarks…”
- Expand the “Quick Searches” folder
- Right click on the search you want to change (in this case I changed the dictionary search)
- click “Properties”
- Change the name of the bookmark to reflect the new site you are going to use
- If you want to use dictionary.reference.com for your dictionary search change the location to “http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%s”
- Change the keyword if you want to use something other than “dict” to use this search from the address bar
- Change the description to reflect your other changes
- Click OK
You can also use this method to create your own quick search for almost any site with a search facility.
- Go to the site you want to add and carry out a search using the usual search method.
- Copy the URL (including query string) of the search results page. For example here is a search for “test” on theregister.com “http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=test&mode=site”.
- Replace the search term in the query string with “%s”, so for the register we use “http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=%s&mode=site”.
- Click on “Bookmarks” in Firefox’s menu
- Click “Organise Bookmarks…”
- Expand the “Quick Searches” folder
- Right click, choose “New Book mark”
- Enter the details for your new search. My Register search looks like this:
Name: El Reg Search
Location: http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=%s&mode=site
Keyword: reg
Descrition: Search the register, Type “reg ” into the address bar
