Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with firefox and search

Dear Google, Why are you automatically deselecting the top search box?

limeonaire — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:19:36 -0800

Google search seems to be exhibiting an irritating new behavior. Please help! At work, I spend a lot of time doing quick fact-checking on Google. To execute the many searches this requires, I either, per suggestions from this 2007 query,

1. hit Command-L to quickly highlight the address bar's text, then type a Firefox search shortcut, e.g. google cheetos, and hit enter, or

2. if I'm already on a Google search page (e.g. this one), hit tab once to select the text in the top search field (since searching from there seems to require less load time than searching cold from the address bar), then type my query and hit enter. To make searching even quicker next time, I normally tab to this box immediately after completing the previous search, so that when I Command-Tab back to Firefox from the Word doc I'm working on, the text in that field is selected and ready to be replaced.

I don't use the dedicated search box in Firefox (I've removed it from the navigation toolbar), and would prefer to continue not to.

Unfortunately, either Google or Firefox seems to have changed something over the weekend, as I've noticed something odd today when I've attempted to use method No. 2. When I've just completed a search and tab to the first search field on a page like this, all the text in the field is initially selected, but then quickly deselects, leaving the browser's focus still on the field, but the text inside unselected. This means that instead of quickly typing in a query to replace the text in the field, then hitting enter, I have to additionally hit Command-A to select the text in the field before typing my query.

It's just an addition of one keystroke, basically, but it's throwing me off my usual search rhythm. Also, while I know I could just hit tab again to select the text in the bottom search field on the page, I'd prefer to continue searching from the top search field—or at very least to solve the mystery of why the text in that field is automatically deselecting.

Does this make sense? And has anyone else who uses a similar method of searching Google experienced this today? If so, can anyone help me figure out how to get the old selection behavior back? My only guess would be that it has something to do with Google seeing the rapid selection of that box immediately after a search is executed as somehow accidental, and attempting to correct that. But my doing so is very much on purpose!

How to add Google search engine back to Firefox?

rintako — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:50:40 -0800

I deleted the Google search engine from my Firefox search engine bar. How do I add it back? You know the bar beside the address bar in Firefox? I removed Google and went to the search-engine page to search for Google."com" since my results were showing up as Google."ca

What happened was there was no Google search engine! Now I'm stuck with yahoo. Please tell me how I can add Google back to the bar. I miss it. Thanks.

How do I make Firefox go to a page that I choose if I type a bad URL?

farmersckn — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:20:02 -0800

How do I make Firefox go to a page that I choose if I type a bad URL? This askmefi post has some potentially useful info but it does not apply in my case.

In Firefox 3.06, if I type a bad URL into my address bar, such as http://blah/ and instead of doing a google search or an error page, or showing me a url that I might have been attempting to reach, like blah.com, it takes me to this spam search page: "http://hwerror.hwpub.com/?ck=esb02oob60&et=1".

I have modified "keyword.url" in my about:config to do a google search on keywords (different than the default I'm feeling Lucky Search), but it has no effect when I type only a single word into my address bar and hit enter.

I have tried to disable "keyword.enabled" and that has no effect on this problem either.

I have run firefox in safe mode and it has the same result.

I have already switched my DNS server to OpenDNS and confirmed that it is working, so I do not believe that my ISP is re-routing my request.

It is interesting to me, that if I view source on the page, it shows a frameset, and only within that frameset does it pull in the url for the search page referenced above.

I believe that somewhere inside the code or configuration files, or possibly an extension, Firefox has been tweaked to do this to me. Is it possible for me to reconfigure it so that it does not happen?

I am already aware that I am causing this by typing a malformed URL, and that I can do keyword searches if I type two words into the address bar, and also that I can hit CTRL+ENTER to magically append ".com" to a single word in the address bar.

I just want to know if there is a way to put this intercept this redirect and put in my own to google or whatever I desire.

Thank you all.

Non-case sensitive search in Firefox 3

MostHolyPorcine — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:05:14 -0800

How do I change it so the find function in Firefox 3 isn't case sensitive? Correct me if I'm wrong, but in previous versions of firefox, ctrl + f find function was not case sensitive. However, ever since I installed 3, it's suddenly case sensitive, which is annoying the crap out of me. Is there some easy fix to this that I'm missing?

Conditional search engine selection in Firefox?

qvtqht — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:35:13 -0800

Conditional search engine selection in Firefox search box based on contents (in particular, character set) of the search query? I would like Firefox to use a different search engine depending on the type of string I enter into the search box. I think that regex matching, if possible, would do the trick.

I like using the search box in Firefox.

I like Google for most searches, but I want to use Yandex by default for any search that contains Cyrillic (Russian) characters.

For example, if I'm searching for "keys wallet phone", Firefox should use Google, but if I'm searching for "ключи бумажник телефон", it should switch to Yandex. (Yandex should be used even if Latin characters are present, as long as at least one Cyrillic character is there.)

How do I make Firefox switch search engines depending on the charset of the text I enter?

Change searching in windows in Firefox

Mo Nickels — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:25:56 -0800

How can I change the behavior of searching in windows in Firefox? The Firefox search-in-browser bar is, and has always has been, awful. [I posted this to the Firefox forums and got no response.]

I am not referring to searches done using URL shortcuts nor am I referring to searches done using search box in the upper right corner of the browser window.

The search-in-browser bar is what I am calling the bar that appears at the bottom of the browser window when you search for content inside of the page that is currently loaded by hitting ctrl-F on Windows or command-F on Mac. I use Firefox 3.0 for both platforms.

The search-in-browser bar is broken (or, if you prefer, intentionally coded in such a way that it behaves in a broken fashion) in that it:

a. Continues to appear on the screen even long after it has last been used.

b. Continues to appear on the screen when a link is clicked and a new page is loaded.

c. "Match case" seems to be arbitrarily selected in between searches.

d. Takes up an inordinate amount of screen real estate, especially in a browser window that fills the monitor. This is particularly problematic on a laptop with a small screen.

What I would like to find is a way to change this behavior. I have looked for things to change in about:config and for an appropriate extension but found no joy.

What I'd like to have happen in Firefox:

1. The search-in-browser bar should disappear in user-settable amount of time after it has last been used, either X amount of time after the last search is made or after the last time a related search key command is entered. I know that you can sometimes hit escape to get the search-in-browser bar to disappear, but that doesn't always work either--it sometimes stupidly requires that you click back into the search field and *then* hit escape--not even rehitting ctrl-F/command-F and then hitting escape works.

2. The search-in-browser bar should disappear when a link is clicked and a new page is loaded.

3. "Match case" should never be selected by default or at the start of a search; or, it should be a user preference as to whether it is a default or not.

4. Ideally, the search-in-browser bar should be able to be turned off. It should return to being a pop-up window as it was on previous versions of Firefox, or it should be a user preference as to whether it should be attached to the window or should be a free-standing pop-up window.

Where does autofill come from?

M Edward — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:38:34 -0800

Firefox Filter: Is there any way to view the autofill lists outside of Firefox? Where does Firefox store the autofill information? Like previous google searches? Is there a way to view them with a text editor?

I am looking for something I googled a long time ago but going through the entire history of my searches line-by-line with only 4 at a time showing is driving me batty.

How do I search firefox Smart Search from the command line in OS X?

crazyray — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:33:08 -0800

I absolutely love Firefox Smart Keyword Searches. Beyond just the default preinstalled ones, I also use custom ones for easynews, rottentomatoes, metafilter, etc. Here's my question: Is it possible to launch these from the command line in OS X? For example, ideally I would enter (into a bash prompt) rt apple to open a new tab in firefox with a search result for "Apple" in rotten tomatoes, like this.. Similarly, I would like to be able to enter easy creative commons to have it launch the keyword bookmark "easy" which searches easynews global for "creative commons". Is this possible to do, preferably without using Applescript or Automator?

Is there a way to search for otherwise-unsearchable text elements on a webpage?

hypocritical ross — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:41:59 -0800

Is there a firefox plugin that will allow me to search ALL text on a webpage including dropdown menus and otherwise unsearchable fields? My employer has recently switched to a new java-based CMS. One problem (among many) is that I need to deal with assigning categories to files - often up to 128 at a time. Each category appears on its own line and has its own dropdown menu, but the categories go in no particular order as you scroll down and there is no way to sort them, either alphabetically or in any other way. An alphabetical sort feature is on our wishlist for the next build, but in the meantime we have to make do. What would be great is if there was a way to search EVERYTHING displayed on the page so that I could quickly find the categories I need to deal with/assign, but the control-f feature in firefox (obviously) only brings up searchable text. Is there a plugin of some kind that can search all text elements displayed on a page, including the dropdown menus? That would make my life way easier. Any workarounds/suggestions would be much appreciated.

How can I change the default 'address bar search' in Firefox?

simonash — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:13:27 -0800

How can I change the default 'address bar search' in Firefox? If I type a word in the address bar, rather than a URL, it now takes me to an Earthlink search page, rather than the Google 'I Feel Lucky' search results.
I have no idea why this is. Earthlink isn't my ISP. I don't have any Earthlink software. Have never used anything to do with Earthlink.
I checked keyword.url under the about:config options but that is set to Google.

Can you help - it's v. annoying

Firefox quick search for multiple sites with one input

coolin86 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:12:54 -0800

How can I use Firefox quick searches for multiple sites with one input? I am an avid user of Firefox's quick/keyword searches, but there is one feature that I miss. I would like the ability to search multiple sites with one keyword.

For example the search string "movie snakes plane" will open up two tabs: one with the results from IMDB and one with results from RottenTomatoes. I tried connecting sites with the pipe character (|) but that didn't work and I tried setting multiple bookmarks with the same keyword, but it only accessed one.

I am open too an extension but I am hoping for a easier no install hack. Also, I considered rollyo, but for some situations I would prefer to see the results on the regular webpages.

Thanks in advance.

Why do my Firefox quick searches not work anymore?

chorltonmeateater — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 03:59:43 -0800

Why do my Firefox quick searches not work anymore? I used to be able to to type "keyword + search terms" in my Firefox address bar to do quick searches, but now all it does is the "I'm feeling lucky" search instead. I can't see any options to turn this on or off, and can't find anything on Google that looks relevant to this problem. Any ideas about why this has gone? I'm running Firefox 1.5.0.5 on Windows XP Home SP2, if that's of any use.

FF "search this site" plug-in

chefscotticus — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:52:45 -0800

Do you know of any Firefox search plug-in that will "search this site" (being the current *websitesite*) for text entered in the search box? I'm thinking in the search engine one, a search plug-in that would search all of www.lifehacker.com, for example, with the text entered. (essentially, it would automatically take care of the "site:lifehacker.com" string part of the google search). oh well, it would be very cool...

Gullible is not in the dictionary

ludwig_van — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:56:34 -0800

I'm using FireFox 1.07 for Windows XP. Previously, when I typed "dict [word]" into the address bar, FireFox would take me to the dictionary.com definition for [word]. Now typing in the same command just takes me to the first result of a Google search for "dict [word]," the same as if I typed anything into the address bar. Recently all my Firefox bookmarks disappeared as well. I haven't updated Firefox or changed anything that I know of. What happened, and how do I restore the old functionality?

Resizing Firefox Search Bar

luser — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 02:25:13 -0800

Firefox won't let resize the search bar. I've followed these instructions, and nothing. Any ideas? I'm on XP using 1.0 Preview.