Google Search using Firefox address bar
24th November 2007I always liked one particular feature of Opera browser and wished badly that it existed in Firefox also. It is the ease with which we can search on Google using the browser address bar itself. Just type "g" followed by your search query in the address bar and hit enter. You will be automatically taken to a Google page containing the results of your search query!
Well, it is very much possible to do the same thing in Firefox. All we need to do is just add a bookmark as shown below, by going to "Organize Bookmarks" and clicking on the "New Bookmark" button.
Type "g" for Keyword and http://www.google.com/search?q=%s for Location as shown in the above screenshot. Other fields are either optional or can be filled with whatever you like.
Once you've configured the bookmark, start searching as shown in the above picture. Simple and extremely handy, isn't it?
What others say
Well, I do understand that Firefox provides an inbuilt search box. But there are some inherent limitations of this. 1. As you pointed out, Ctrl + K is the shortcut. As a power user of Firefox, I would not want to press two key strokes when I can do away with just one! Yes, F6 is the keyboard shortcut for the browser address bar and it works on all the browsers. Another point to note is that as soon as you open a new tab in Firefox, the address bar will be automatically focussed. So you can just start searching right away! 2. I like to have as much browsing area as possible. Having a separate search box next to the address bar, clutters this. Why need B when you can do it in A itself? Also, some users, especially web developers, take advantage of a longer address bar as they don't have to scroll to the end to see what the full address is. So, I always end up removing the search toolbar. 3. This technique is highly customizable and extremely generic. %s is the place holder for any parameter in the URL. So, if you want to use Urban Dictionary, create a bookmark with keyword of 'u' and location of http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s. For dictionary.com, use 'd' and http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%s. Thus, the possibilities are endless. You can add your own URL also this way, which is impossible to do with the inbuilt search box.
