Search Plug-ins

Search plugins are search shortcuts that let you search a web site from a search box in your browser bar without actually going to that site first. You might think, "Well, that's kind of lazy; it doesn't really take me long to get to Amazon.com before I type in the title of the book I want." Trust us, though--once you start using these, you'll love how quick and easy they are to use. Here's a screen shot that shows some search plugins in Firefox--click on the image to see a larger version of it:



This person has search plugins for Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com, Delicious, Wikipedia, and an option to add one called "Skyline Search Plugin" from Auraria Library--more about that last one in a minute. By using the drop down arrow, she can select any of these, and even though her browser is currently displaying the library's homepage, the search terms she enters into that box will search, and display results from, the selected site.

(Bonus question: Can you tell which Firefox add-ons this person uses as well? Hint: look around the edges of the browser window, particularly at the top and in the lower right corner of the screen shot.)

You might be asking yourself, "Wait, how is this different from the Firefox Add-ons we just learned about?!" Well, those are JUST for Firefox, and, as we saw, they're a separate little piece of software that needs to be installed. They have many and varied functions, whereas a search plugin's main function is to search a site without having to go to it first. Plugins also work in Internet Explorer, but only in versions 7 and up.

The best part is that these plugins are usually automatically detected by your web browser and don't require a separate installation. All you have to do is browse to your favorite web sites, and click on the little drop-down arrow to see if a search plugin is available. Let's walk through that process now.

Activity:

If you've just had Firefox installed from the last Thing, you'll find that you've already got some default plug-ins listed, like Google, Yahoo!, and Wikipedia. Internet Explorer may have given you some defaults as well. If you don't want these, we'll tell you how to edit your plugins below. Remember, also, you need to be using Internet Explorer version 7 and above or Firefox version 2 or above. Need a browser upgrade? Bugzilla it.

For this activity, we'll install a search plugin that the Web Librarian created for the Skyline catalog. It allows you search Skyline by keyword from that little search box in the upper right corner of your browser. It's easy as pie; start by opening Internet Explorer or Firefox on your workstation and go to the library's home page.

Next, click on the drop-down arrow next to the search box in the upper right corner; refer to the screen shot above for a visual aid. You'll likely see the default searches that Firefox and IE give you, but you'll also note that there's the option to "Add Auraria Library." Click on this option, which closes the little drop down window. If you click on it again, you'll see that "Auraria Library" has been added. Highlight the "Auraria Library" option and try it out! Enter a keyword search that you'd conduct in Skyline, and away you'll go! Can you think of other search plugins that we could create for library employees and users?

If you ever want to get rid of a search plugin, change the order, etc., just click on "Manage Search Engines" at the bottom of your list of plugins. You'll be able to update, add, and delete search plugins.

Challenge:

Ready to add more search plugins? Here are a couple of challenges, one for Internet Explorer and the other for Firefox. Try one, or, if you're feeling lucky, try both!

For Internet Explorer: Try "rolling your own" search plugin; here's a handy tool on Microsoft's web site that walks you through creating and installing a search plugin for your favorite sites. Fill in the form in the yellow box on the right, and voila, you've just created your own search plugin! If this is a bit much, you can select some of your favorites to add from the list on the left side of the screen. Note that there are some for some of the Things we've already learned about, i.e., Facebook, that might be handy and fun to try.

For Firefox: There's a Firefox add-on called Add to Search Bar that will create search plugins for your favorite web sites. Note: you'll need to ask Systems (via Bugzilla) to download and install this add-on. Once it's installed, however, you'll be able to create any number of search plugins for your favorite web sites on your own.

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