Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla, Browser Tips
SearchWith: Firefox add-on of the day
by Ryan Sullivan Feb 19th 2007 at 9:30AM
I had 2 main goals with search engine extensions in my Firefox (FF) browser. One of them was reached with YubNub in my search bar, allowing me to search any website for anything without having to actually go to that website. My other goal was to be able to just highlight some text and be able to search any website for that text without having to actually go to that site first. This second goal has now been achieved, with SearchWith.Searchwith gives you the ability to highlight some text, right-click on it, click Search With and pick the services you want to use. But the fun doesn't stop there.
There are also a few nice features built into SearchWith. One is at the top of the SearchWith right-click menu called Address Bar. This option for your selected text will place that text into the address bar. If your selected text is a url, it will take you to that site in a new tab/window. If it is not a url, it will use an "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature and take you to the url of the first result of a Google search. This feature would be great if you wanted to search Technorati for a spcific url. Another function is that you are able to right-click on any link and use the Address Bar feature and be taken to that url in a new page. Other features require the use of the keyboard. If you hold down the shift key while selecting a service, a new window will pop up offering you the chance to edit the selected text in some way and also the possibility of selecting a different engine that is under your selected service. And if you hold down the control key, it will search for the selected text with quotes around it. This would be ideal for searches utilizing engines similar to Google or Ask.
Above I mentioned services and engines. This is what SearchWith uses to classify the data sources you can add/remove/customize. For example we take the service "Web". Web is a service that already exists in SearchWith and can hold multiple engines. So, inside Web, you can have Google, Yahoo, Ask, LinkedIn, etc. Just think of a service as the broad term that holds the engines which fit under that type of service. Both are fully customizable. And setting one up is real easy.
First, take a look at the engines tab and see what SearchWith comes with, it might already have what you want. To add another engine just start typing its name in the text field and click on "Add Engine". If you get a pop-up saying that it already exists, just hit ok and click on "Import Search Plugins" and you will see your new engine. Now just double click on your new engine and enter the url of the search. Don't worry about the icon path field, SearchWith can automatically grab that for you. This is so you are able to recognize the service's engine more quickly. There is also a pull-down menu at the bottom to place that engine into a service. To put your new engine into a new service, you first have to create that service in the same way you created your new engine, only in the service tab instead of the engine. Remember, you can use one engine across multiple services.
This one did take a bit of getting used to, but after some tinkering around and using some more creative engines it all worked out great. I highly suggest this extension for everyone out there. And to help get you started on adding more and more engines here is the url that for LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/ns?search=&name=. If you have any other questions or requests for more search engine url's please leave them in the comments below and I will try and help out as much as possible.
Above I mentioned services and engines. This is what SearchWith uses to classify the data sources you can add/remove/customize. For example we take the service "Web". Web is a service that already exists in SearchWith and can hold multiple engines. So, inside Web, you can have Google, Yahoo, Ask, LinkedIn, etc. Just think of a service as the broad term that holds the engines which fit under that type of service. Both are fully customizable. And setting one up is real easy.
First, take a look at the engines tab and see what SearchWith comes with, it might already have what you want. To add another engine just start typing its name in the text field and click on "Add Engine". If you get a pop-up saying that it already exists, just hit ok and click on "Import Search Plugins" and you will see your new engine. Now just double click on your new engine and enter the url of the search. Don't worry about the icon path field, SearchWith can automatically grab that for you. This is so you are able to recognize the service's engine more quickly. There is also a pull-down menu at the bottom to place that engine into a service. To put your new engine into a new service, you first have to create that service in the same way you created your new engine, only in the service tab instead of the engine. Remember, you can use one engine across multiple services.
This one did take a bit of getting used to, but after some tinkering around and using some more creative engines it all worked out great. I highly suggest this extension for everyone out there. And to help get you started on adding more and more engines here is the url that for LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/ns?search=&name=. If you have any other questions or requests for more search engine url's please leave them in the comments below and I will try and help out as much as possible.