SearchLoad Options - Firefox Add-on of the Day

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla, Browser Tips, Unix

SearchLoad Options - Firefox Add-on of the Day

by Ryan Sullivan Feb 9th 2007

Today's extension goes great with the YubNub add-on that I suggested a week ago. SearchLoad Options lets you take control over what happens when you are searching from the Firefox search bar. This extension is chock full of useful features, such as clearing the search field after a user-set amount of time. You are also able to have it get reset back to another search engine, one that you use the most. So, if you are done searching IMDb or Amazon, you can have it set to go back to Google after a few seconds.

The feature that I love most about SearchLoad Options is that you can have your search results pop up in a new tab instead of the current tab. One of the most annoying things about Firefox is that the search bar results appear in your current tab. Most of the time I, if not all the time, just use the shortcut key to get the cursor into the search field (Ctrl + E or Ctrl + K) and start typing and hit enter when I'm finished. And then I start kicking myself in the butt if I'm half way done with a post and the search results just popped up in the same window, erasing all my work. Now I just do the same thing and my results come up in a new tab. I highly recommend this one for those keyboard lovers out there.

And, as always, if you have something better than this extension, or any extension for that matter, please leave me your suggestions in the comments below.

Tags: Add-on, Firefox, Mozilla, Search

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Robert Andrews said 11:23AM on 2-09-2007

You can open your search results in a new tab if u hit alt+enter. Just a thought.

Yuriko said 12:39PM on 2-09-2007

You can also modify about:config to load search results in a new tab. Just set "browser.search.openintab " to "true".

murph said 12:47PM on 2-09-2007

or you use Tab Mix Plus to force the search box to always open a new tab.

good extension tip though. i will check it out.

Ryan Sullivan said 1:12PM on 2-09-2007

Murph,
I have tab mix plus, but my search results are still coming up in the current window. I think one of my other extensions is preventing the results from opening in a new tab. But this add-on fixes it all up.

kobewan said 2:20PM on 2-09-2007

I second the Tab Mix Plus comment. Do you have it set up to open it in a new tab for you? (Tools->Tab Mix Plus->Events-> Tab Opening->Open tabs from: Search Bar)

Tab Mix Plus is an all-round great extension anyways, easily one of the best. Another useful one that I havn't seen mentioned that much is Linkification (automatically converts text URLs to clickable links).

Also, could you possibly check the change in start-up time for Firefox with each new extension featured here? It doesn't have to be exact, but just a rough guess if it changes your start-up time or not would be helpful.

Ryan Sullivan said 3:20PM on 2-09-2007

Kobewan,
I guess it's time for me to go over all of the possible features for tab mix plus, because I missed that in my search for being able to open search results in a new tab. I did also catch that you can open address bar inquiries in a new tab as well. Thank you for pointing that one out to me.

In terms of start-up time, I have about 59 extensions active and no themes. Some of my extensions check for updates for the other extensions, so I assume that would add to the start-up time. But, in my dev view, that has no extensions, takes roughly 3 seconds till the home page is viewable. In my normal FF profile, the one that I usually use with 59 extensions, takes about 7 seconds for me to see the tab mix plus session restore window asking me if I want to restore the previous session. But, like I said, I have a couple parts of Firefox looking for updates to things before it fully opens, so that is what is probably doubling my start-up time. I haven't gone over any of those yet though, so you shouldn't be seeing any huge increase in your start-up time.

Thanks again for that tip, and I'll be sure to check out Linkification!

Samuel said 9:07PM on 2-09-2007

I always hit ctrl+T to open a nnew tab and then tab twice to get to the searchbox, then search. Its natural for me and not laborious like you might think

Brent said 12:33PM on 2-10-2007

About:config -> Set browser.tabs.opentabfor.searchdialog = True

Search results always open in a new tab. No need for an extension.

Brent said 9:48PM on 2-10-2007

Whoops, that should have been:
browser.search.openintab = true

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