[tlug] Tip 'o the Day: quick searches in Mozilla / Firefox

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

I assume many TLUGgers already know this one, but:

1. Browse to your favourite search engine (e.g. Google)
2. Search for your favourite thing (e.g. TLUG):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tlug&btnG=Google+Search
3. Bookmark the results page (I suggest filing the bookmark in a
folder called "Quick Searches" or something like that)
4. Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks
5. Locate the bookmark you just created
6. Right click, then select Properties
7. In the "Location:" textbox, find the search term that you used when
creating the bookmark (e.g. "tlug", from our previous example)
8. Replace the search term with "%s", taking care to not change
anything else in the URI (e.g. our "Location:" textbox should now read
"http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s&btnG=Google+Search";)
9. In the "Keyword:" textbox, enter a single word or letter (e.g. "g")
to use as the keyword for quick searches (explanation to follow)
10. In the "Description:" textbox, enter the same word you chose for
"Keyword:" (e.g. "g"); this is simply because the Bookmarks Manager
does not display the keyword in its simple view
11. Click OK
12. Return to a browser window, click in the location textbox, and
enter the keyword that you selected above, a single space, then some
search terms (e.g. g "quick-n-dirty guides")
13. Press Enter or click Go
14. Voila!

For additional fun, I have attached a bookmarks file containing a
folder full of my favourite quick searches. You can import this
straight into your Mozilla / Firefox by choosing the Bookmarks >
Manage Bookmarks to open the Bookmarks Manager, then selecting File >
Import from the menu. Choose From File, click Next, select my
quick-searches.html file from wherever you saved it, then click open.
This will create a new folder called "jmglov Quick Searches" in your
top-level Bookmarks folder.

Use these as a starting point for your own collection!

Cheers,
Josh

PS: Yes, I do know about Mycroft search plugins [1] [2] [3], but I
find "Ctrl + L g foo Enter" faster even than "Ctrl + L Tab foo (Ctrl +
(Up|Down))* Enter". :)

[1] http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html?name=pgp.mit.edu&submitform=Search
[2] http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html?name=kobesearch.cpan.org&submitform=Search
[3] http://www.jmglov.net/opensource/

Title: Bookmarks

Bookmarks

jmglov Quick Searches

Handy searches that can be performed in the addressbar

Amazon.com Search

a

CPAN Search

cpan

Cambridge Advanced Dictionary

d

Google Quicksearch

g

Gentoo Bugzilla Search

gb

Gentoo Forums Search

gf

Gentoo Package Search

gp

IMDb Search

i

Stock Symbol Quicksearch

q

Urban Dictionary

slang

Wikipedia Quicksearch

w