09.10Firefox add-on OpenSearchFox to add any sites search engine
This article was written by Mike Panic
Read 2721 times, 3 so far today
This Firefox add-on has me seriously giddy, it has to be one of the top add-ons I’ve ever used, helps solidify my passion for being a Firefox user. OpenSearchFox adds the ability to quickly and easily add the search engine feature of any site to the built in search bar in Firefox. The default install of Firefox includes Google, Amazon, Yahoo and a few others and allows you to add about a dozen more, including Wikipedia, but what about all the other sites that have content that you search often?
Once you install the add-on, simply right click inside any websites search box, like in the top right corner here at Randomn3ss, and click the Add OpenSearch plugin. You will be guided through a few customization steps and then asked to click finish. The site is now searchable right from Firefox. The only minor bug I’ve found thus far is that you need to wait until the page is fully loaded before starting, otherwise the favicon won’t transfer into the search options.
So besides using this add-on to search Randomn3ss, what else is this useful for? For me, I’ve added several torrent sites as well as support / development sites that I frequently search and Lifehacker.com, a true wealth of knowledge. Hell, you could even use this add-on for MySpace to get your stalker on.
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Very cool add on. Just thought I’d share another that I thought you’d like being a photographer as well.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3905
This one will allow you to right click on any photo online and get the EXIF info. (If the picture has it.) I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at a photo and wondered exactly what lens the author used was, when it was taken, what camera etc. More of a camera nerd tool than anything.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:16 am
[...] What’s not so great about it? Well first and foremost, Windows only. As a Mac user, I once again feel like someone put me out in the cold. Lack of any add-ons that I’ve come to love with Firefox is also missing, but if you were coming from Internet Explorer you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about anyway. Dedicated search box is something I miss. Why you ask, since Google answers all questions on it’s own? Because it simply doesn’t. I’ve been using a Firefox add-on called OpenSearchFox for more than a year now; it allows you to add a drop down in Firefox to search any site that has search enabled on it. That means, rather than going to say Netflix and then searching, I can select Netflix from my drop down menu in the search bar and type in my query there. My other gripe is the lack of a status bar. I understand how important screen real estate is, but I like it, I’ve been using the status bar for more than 10 years in browsers, I’m used to it. Lastly, Chrome doesn’t work with all websites yet. One site that I order digital photos from requires a Java plugin, to upload the photos. I have the plugin installed in Windows but the browser doesn’t pick it up. I’m sure small kinks like this will iron themselves out but it’s still an inconvenience. [...]
September 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm