This tool, and tools like it, have been around for many years but never seem to get the exposure they deserve. Perhaps this time around it will be different.

What happens if a search tool you use doesn’t have a Firefox searchbar plug-in and you don’t have coding skills? You could ask for someone to create a MyCroft extension for you OR you could do it YOURSELF in a matter of seconds, NO coding necessary.

A plug-in for Firefox 2.0 named “Add to Searchbar” makes adding most search tools to your Searchbar a 10-second, two-click operation. Before Firefox 2.0 was released we talked about something similar (and from the same developer) named Search Engine Ordering. Some of the features that Search Engine Ordering provided are now built into Firefox.

It Couldn’t Be Easier
1) Download and Install the “Add to Search Bar 1.5″ plug-in for Firefox. Close and then restart your browser.

2) Locate the search box(es) on the site you want to make searchable directly from the Search Bar. For example, the Search Engine Land site search box, PictureAustralia, catalogue, Findory, or the LEO catalog from the New York Public Library.

3) Place your cursor inside the search box and right-click.

4) Look for the “Add to Search Bar” option and click.

5) A box with the title of the engine (you can change it) and an icon (also changeable) will appear.

6) Make any changes necessary. Click OK.

7) That’s it. Now you can search directly from the Firefox Search Bar. Wasn’t that easy?

Firefox now allows you to organize (move up/down, remove) your entries by clicking the Search Bar box and selecting Manage Search Engines. If you want to organize alphabetically, install the Search Engine Sorting plug-in.

Caveat: With some types of engines you might receive an error message. However, in several cases, even after receiving the message, the Search Bar option still works.

Finally, we’ve added options for the same engine but with different parameters in our Search Bar. Simply give each one a name you’ll be able to quickly identify. For example:
+ Number of default results
+ Databases searched (in a metasearch situation)
+ Limited to a specific field (for example, search by ISBN using Amazon.com or site: search with any of the major engines)

UPDATE: David Utter from WebProNews pointed out to us in an email (THANKS DAVID!) that something very similar is built directly into the Opera browser.
1) Find a search box (just about any search box)
2) Place your cursor in the search box.
3) Right-click and look for “Create Search” option
4) A box with the title (changeable), add a keyword shortcut*, and for those of you who like to “hack” URLs, you’ll find direct access to the URL and potentially create various specialty searches. You can also select make an engine, Opera’s default search engine.

* A shortcut can be a word, letters, numbers, etc. For example, on my Opera browser, the keyword DT, runs a search on DocuTicker. To access and search with the shortcut, simply enter the letters into the address bar and then your search terms. So, if I want to search DocuTicker I simply enter DT and then my search terms. Example: DT congress.

See Also:
+ Searchy
+ Searchplugins.net (IE 7 plug-ins too!)
+ Ready2Search
If “Add to Search Bar” doesn’t meet your needs, here are some other options.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 7th, 2007 and is filed under Search Tools, Software and Web-Based Applications, Web Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.