this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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• Firefox offers better privacy and security than Chrome, with upcoming support for 200 new add-ons. • While Chrome dominates, Firefox gains ground with user-friendly browsing experience and open-source model. • Mozilla's focus on user privacy and transparency challenges Google's ad-centric approach, making Firefox a viable alternative.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

I want to switch to firefox but I haven't figured out how to do the custom searches that I have on Chrome.

Right now I can enter into the chrome bar, for example: s (space) Birds of Paradise (enter) which will translate into https://scryfall.com/search?q=birds%20of%20paradise&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name

I know I can right click on a given search and "add Keyword for this search" but that doesn't allow me to do custom URLs (e.g. www.reddit.comm/r/%s to go directly to a subreddit, rather than search).

edit: thank you so much everyone for these responses. I'm gonna make the switch :)

[–] AnActOfCreation 22 points 11 months ago

I gotchu!

In about:config type browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh and press plus (add as true).

Then go to about:preferences > Search Shortcuts > Add .

More reading: https://superuser.com/a/1756774

Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Firefox doesn't explain how to do this at all, but it is possible. Make a bookmark with the URL you want, and set the keyword to whatever symbol you want ti start it with.

For example,
Name: Scryfall (or whatever you want)
URL: https://scryfall.com/search?q=%s&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name
Keyword: s
Then type "s Birds of Paradise" to get the result you want.

I did the same with Reddit and it worked on my end. If it doesn't work for you I'd be happy to help you figure it out.

It's also possible on mobile, and it's actually even easier: Settings>Search>Default Search Engine>Add Search Engine. Then you can type your search and choose the engine from a dropdown menu.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This is the way. The dude in the comment above the one I am replying to described a different way where you have to change the config, which would be neccesary to do on every new installation. Via the bookmarks/shortcuts method you will have the BANG Search on every new installation just by importing your bookmarks - or if you use an firefox account with synchronisation you will already have it with your login.

Be advised that duckduckgo has already some predefined BANG Searches, that you can use without having to change anything. Just type in the search bar:

  • !g for google searches
  • !ddg for duckduckgo searches
  • !yt for youtube searches
  • !mindfactory for searches on a german pc hardware shop "mindfactory.de" Yes they have very broadly implemented websites. Even such nieche sites are already listed.
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Definitely possible. Here is a tutorial I've been using: https://superuser.com/a/7374

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Lots of people are covering the actual answer, but this is one of the reasons I default to duck duck go on everything - the bang operator. For example:

cat videos !yt or !yt cat videos (or probably even cat !yt videos) will search YouTube for cat videos.

I have a bunch of these that I use all of the time:

  • !a, Amazon
  • !g and !gi, google and google images
  • !imdb, uh, imdb
  • !nf, Netflix
  • retired now but !r searches reddit
  • !so, stack overflow
  • !w, wikipedia.

I guess they're up to nearly 14k of these now so chances are the thing you want to search is in the list. Aside from that, Google's search results are increasingly garbage these days and filled with ads, so while I used to get a lot of use out of !g and !gi, I really don't any longer.