From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box <https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/firefox-just-fixed-my-biggest-annoyance-with-web-browsers-and-its-a-game-changer/>:

Directly to the left of the address bar, you'll see a new
drop-down. Most likely, it'll have the Google icon. Click that
drop-down, and all of the available search engines appear. From
that list, select the search engine you want to use.

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced. I decided that I didnrCOt want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Tue, 25 Nov 2025 05:18:09 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D-|Oliveiro wrote:

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box <https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/firefox-just-fixed-my-biggest-annoyance-with-web-browsers-and-its-a-game-changer/>:

Directly to the left of the address bar, you'll see a new
drop-down. Most likely, it'll have the Google icon. Click that
drop-down, and all of the available search engines appear. From
that list, select the search engine you want to use.

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced. I decided that I didnrCOt want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?

It has been there in its current form for several versions. This
page is dated May 23, 2025:
<https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/address-bar/>

Before that, the search engines were in a row at the bottom of the combined-search-and-address bar drop-down. This screen-shot is from
Firefox 128: <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=28_m9p5nc__firefox_old_search_bar.png>
--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
EfaeN+A

Every man will shoot at an enemy, but few will go to fetch the shaft.
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Lawrence DoOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box <https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/firefox-just-fixed-my-biggest-annoyance-with-web-browsers-and-its-a-game-changer/>:

Directly to the left of the address bar, you'll see a new
drop-down. Most likely, it'll have the Google icon. Click that
drop-down, and all of the available search engines appear. From
that list, select the search engine you want to use.

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced. I decided that I didnot want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?

I created a folder "Search" in my bookmarks (it was actually a subfolder
under "MyStuff"). Bookmarks under it specified the URLs the search
engines use. I'd do a search, and then replace the search arguments
with %s (percent-ess). That was to where the bookmark pointed. In the bookmark, I specified a keyword for the search, like:

Startpage (default)
URL = https://www.startpage.com/do/search?q=%s
Keyword = s

Google
URL = https://www.google.com/search?q=%s
Keyword = g

(and many more for Google)
(and Google alternatives at Bing)

Youtube
URL = https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s
Keyword = yt

Wikipedia
URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
Keyword = wiki

Amazon
URL = https://www.amazon.com/s?k=%s
Keyword = amaz

Ebay
URL = https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=%s
Keyword = ebay

and so on. I had a LOT more search bookmarks than listed above.
Anywhere I did a search often enough, I'd add a bookmark. To get the
URL, just do a search there, and copy the URL, and replace the arguments
with %s as a placeholder. I could do a search by simply by adding the
keyword in the address bar, a space, and whatever I wanted to search on.

<keyword> <searchstring>

I didn't have to waste time moving the mouse around to pick from a few
search engine choices. I had as many choices as I had bookmarks with
keywords assigned. I have, at present, 29 search bookmarks. Imagine
the pain of having scroll through a list that long with Mozilla's
solution. I'm already going to be using the keyboard to enter my search criteria, so prefixing that string with a keyword in the address bar is
very easy and fast.

Examples:
s intel npu to search on Intel NPU-capable CPUs.
gi moonglow juniper to search on that type of tree.
wiki windows essentials to search on Windows Essentials.
hk <2naltl-o7943.ln1%40spock.lan> to search the Howard Knight archive.

Keywords have been available for bookmarks in Firefox for longer than I
can remember using Firefox. You prefix the keyword in the address bar,
and that bookmark gets loaded. It doesn't have to be a search bookmark.
Any bookmark will do. If you often visit cnn.com, add a bookmark, or
edit one you already have, to specify URL = https://www.cnn.com/ and
Keyword = cnn.

My guess is Mozilla is trying to appear more search engine neutral
perhaps in preparation to a disconnect from Google. You get to pick
whichever bookmark you want by its keyword. Keywords in bookmarks have
been around for MANY years.

Bookmarks in Firefox
How to use keywords with bookmarks https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/bookmarks-firefox#w_how-to-use-keywords-with-bookmarks

As I recall, the list of available search engine choices would appear as
a under-box list: when you started to type in the address bar, a popup
box would appear underneath showing icons for the search engines defined
in Firefox. That let you change from the default searching when using
the addressbar as a search box. I think there was an option or
about:config setting to hide that popup, because I certainly would not
want to be limited by just the search engines defined in Firefox. I'm
not sure a popup listbox could handle my 29 keyworded search bookmarks.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box <https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/firefox-just-fixed-my-biggest-annoyance-with-web-browsers-and-its-a-game-changer/>:

Directly to the left of the address bar, you'll see a new
drop-down. Most likely, it'll have the Google icon. Click that
drop-down, and all of the available search engines appear. From
that list, select the search engine you want to use.

Another way is to set a short name and type that in the address box
before the search term. For example for searching Ebay for laptops
I can do Ctrl-L, "eb laptop", Enter. You can also do this in Dillo,
but Ebay block me as a bot after the first page viewed in that
browser now (grrrr...).

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced.

That was a long time ago, it worked in FF v2 (without a drop-down
menu).

I decided that I didn't want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?

Not in Firefox v128 which was the last I used before ESR went up to
v140.
--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Tue, 25 Nov 2025 19:17:46 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
wrote:

On Tue, 25 Nov 2025 05:18:09 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro wrote:

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box

<snipperoo>

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced. I decided that I didnAt want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?

It has been there in its current form for several versions.

<snapperoo>
One quirk with the *switching from search box* for me is that my
choice via settings is for DDG which is the third entry... but if I
ask for a momentary change, neither Google nor Bing -- the first and
second -- appear as suggestions in the mini-pulldown menu.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

VanguardLH wrote:

I created a folder "Search" in my bookmarks (it was actually a subfolder under "MyStuff"). Bookmarks under it specified the URLs the search
engines use. I'd do a search, and then replace the search arguments
with %s (percent-ess). That was to where the bookmark pointed. In the bookmark, I specified a keyword for the search, like:

That's the approach I take, although not so elaborate. I don't like
using my address bar for searching, and with a Search folder in the
Bookmarks Bar (and the folder located directly below the Address Bar), I
can choose whatever search engine I want, even if I don't go so far to
specify parameters in the bookmark defs.

Smith
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

In alt.comp.software.firefox, on Tue, 25 Nov 2025 05:18:09 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Jack Wallen enthuses about a supposedly new feature in Firefox: being
able to switch search engines directly from the search box ><https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/firefox-just-fixed-my-biggest-annoyance-with-web-browsers-and-its-a-game-changer/>:

Directly to the left of the address bar, you'll see a new
drop-down. Most likely, it'll have the Google icon. Click that
drop-down, and all of the available search engines appear. From
that list, select the search engine you want to use.

I switched off the combined-search-and-address box years ago, not long
after it was introduced. I decided that I didnAt want the browser
doing an automatic search just because I put a typo in a URL. And this
menu of search engines has always been there next to the search box,
as far as I can recall.

Did it not appear before, if you kept a single box for both searches
and addresses?

I saw when they announced that. All I hope is that they don't use it as
an excuse to get rid of what does the same thing afaict, the
alternative search box to the right of the original search box, if you
add it to that line, whaever it's called.

That's the single feature of FF that makes it better than other
browsers.

It doesn't do addresses, only searches, but if you for example search in
wikip, the search words are still there to search in google or bing or whatever. I don't need the new thing.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2