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I assume many TLUGgers already know this one, but:
- Browse to your favourite search engine (e.g. Google)
- Search for your favourite thing (e.g. TLUG): http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tlug&btnG=Google+Search
- Bookmark the results page (I suggest filing the bookmark in a folder called “Quick Searches” or something like that)
- Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks
- Locate the bookmark you just created
- Right click, then select Properties
- In the “Location:” textbox, find the search term that you used when creating the bookmark (e.g. “tlug”, from our previous example)
- Replace the search term with “%s”, taking care to not change anything else in the URI (e.g. our “Location:” textbox should now read “http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s&btnG=Google+Search”;)
- In the “Keyword:” textbox, enter a single word or letter (e.g. “g”) to use as the keyword for quick searches (explanation to follow)
- In the “Description:” textbox, enter the same word you chose for “Keyword:” (e.g. “g”); this is simply because the Bookmarks Manager does not display the keyword in its simple view
- Click OK
- Return to a browser window, click in the location textbox, and enter the keyword that you selected above, a single space, then some search terms (e.g. g “quick-n-dirty guides”)
- Press Enter or click Go
- Voila!
For additional fun, I have attached a bookmarks file containing a folder full of my favourite quick searches. You can import this straight into your Mozilla / Firefox by choosing the Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks to open the Bookmarks Manager, then selecting File > Import from the menu. Choose From File, click Next, select my quick-searches.html file from wherever you saved it, then click open. This will create a new folder called “jmglov Quick Searches” in your top-level Bookmarks folder.
Use these as a starting point for your own collection!
Cheers, Josh
PS: Yes, I do know about Mycroft search plugins 1 2 3, but I find “Ctrl + L g foo Enter” faster even than “Ctrl + L Tab foo (Ctrl + (Up|Down))* Enter”. :)