I used to have google bookmarked, I clicked on it then did a search
I was too lazy to go to the right and do a search from there. When I got Chrome earlier this year because Firefox was crashing all the time, the search box disappeared and I was left with an address bar and no bookmarks toolbar, so I did not click my google bookmark and do the search. I then realised you could search directly from the address bar.
That's the story and reason I started searching from the address bar!
Love Chrome, never looked back since ditching buggy, unstable Firefox!
I haven't ditched Firefox for the totally opposite reason you are giving us.
In Chrome, you type to search in the URL bar so it can go to Google's search results (and hence, giving them money).
Firefox has two bars: one for search (the one you didn't use altough it was way more straightforward than clicking a bookmark) and the URL bar that works as a "I'm feeling lucky button", to go directly to something you already know (you are not _searching_, you are _finding_) as in "wiki tesla" if you want to go to Nikola Tesla's Wikipedia article.
That's a dealbreaker for me and something I can't get on Chrome because of its limited API.
if you prefer to have no search provider in Chrome, go into Wrench -> Options -> Basics -> Manage search engines. add a new search engine with any name and any keyword, then set the URL to "%s". it assumes http://, because if you aren't explicitly entering the protocol as well then you definitely mean http://, and if you are including the protocol then that bypasses the search handling anyway.
after mousing over the URL and clicking "Make default" you're done. the default google search doesn't bother me, but some people prefer the explicit separation of URLs and search queries.
if you want to do a search or an I'm Feeling Lucky query, just go back to those same search options and add single character keywords for them.
then ". wiki tesla" does what you described without requiring a second input field. if you do more of those types of queries than regular searches, you could make it the default so it doesn't require the leading keyword.
once a few good keyword characters are setup to speed up your common searches like dictionary/wiki article lookups, hn, reddit, etc the lack of a dedicated search field becomes a feature.
Well I actually didn't use the built in search as I couldn't be bothered changing it.
As I was focusing a lot of work at the time on SEO, when doing a search in Firefox around the start of version 3, it used to do a search on the US google which would show me incorrect results. Therefore I used a bookmark which took me to google.co.uk. Firefox then localised the search but I still used the bookmark.
It's all about habit, I'm in a habit now with Chrome and I don't regret it. I might get back on Firefox on version 306, in about a years time.
Comments
You use Chrome's search but didn't use Firefox's? Why?
I've been using browser's search since Opera (Opera -> Firefox)
Well it was hard to break a habit of a lifetime
I used to have google bookmarked, I clicked on it then did a search
I was too lazy to go to the right and do a search from there. When I got Chrome earlier this year because Firefox was crashing all the time, the search box disappeared and I was left with an address bar and no bookmarks toolbar, so I did not click my google bookmark and do the search. I then realised you could search directly from the address bar.
That's the story and reason I started searching from the address bar!
Love Chrome, never looked back since ditching buggy, unstable Firefox!
I haven't ditched Firefox for the totally opposite reason you are giving us.
In Chrome, you type to search in the URL bar so it can go to Google's search results (and hence, giving them money).
Firefox has two bars: one for search (the one you didn't use altough it was way more straightforward than clicking a bookmark) and the URL bar that works as a "I'm feeling lucky button", to go directly to something you already know (you are not _searching_, you are _finding_) as in "wiki tesla" if you want to go to Nikola Tesla's Wikipedia article.
That's a dealbreaker for me and something I can't get on Chrome because of its limited API.
You can choose which search engine you use by going to preferences > search engine: http://sht.tl/3yo http://sht.tl/9erk
if you prefer to have no search provider in Chrome, go into Wrench -> Options -> Basics -> Manage search engines. add a new search engine with any name and any keyword, then set the URL to "%s". it assumes http://, because if you aren't explicitly entering the protocol as well then you definitely mean http://, and if you are including the protocol then that bypasses the search handling anyway.
after mousing over the URL and clicking "Make default" you're done. the default google search doesn't bother me, but some people prefer the explicit separation of URLs and search queries.
if you want to do a search or an I'm Feeling Lucky query, just go back to those same search options and add single character keywords for them.
Keyword: .
URL: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&btnI=I%...
then ". wiki tesla" does what you described without requiring a second input field. if you do more of those types of queries than regular searches, you could make it the default so it doesn't require the leading keyword.
once a few good keyword characters are setup to speed up your common searches like dictionary/wiki article lookups, hn, reddit, etc the lack of a dedicated search field becomes a feature.
Well I actually didn't use the built in search as I couldn't be bothered changing it.
As I was focusing a lot of work at the time on SEO, when doing a search in Firefox around the start of version 3, it used to do a search on the US google which would show me incorrect results. Therefore I used a bookmark which took me to google.co.uk. Firefox then localised the search but I still used the bookmark.
It's all about habit, I'm in a habit now with Chrome and I don't regret it. I might get back on Firefox on version 306, in about a years time.