Quick Searches. Possibly the end of my temporary keyword mania.

When I started this blog a week or so ago, I didn't think the first few would be dedicated to Firefox features but I have to mention Quick Searches before letting go of the keywords tips.

I was talking to Matt (Drupal enthusiast extraordinaire) about how I'd found what I thought was a more convenient way to search. I was both surprised and happy to be wrong again when he explained searching Google was as easy as creating a new tab, then pressing the tab key to get to the Google search native to Firefox.

Pressing control-t to open a new tab, then hit tab. You're ready to search Google.

Neat. Good on'ya Matt. I was using this religiously.

Then complimentary to my keywords kick (see last blog), I started reading into Firefox's Quick Searches.

My biggest sigh of relief has been using the Quick Searches for SourceForge.net. The intro page loads too slowly. Now all I do is hit control-L (or control-T if I want it in a new tab) to get to the address bar and type: sf image map

.... and I get a list of matches for image map software from SoureForge's projects. Even neater.

The sweet part about it is that it works for any site with search. Simply right-click in any single search field and you are prompted to create the shortcut. Enter your keyword (a short one like 'g'!) and save your bookmark.

I save mine to my own Quick Searches folder. From what I've read it's supposed to be there already, but I must have deleted mine thinking it was nothing but clutter.

Lifehacker's article on using Firefox Quick Searches is better than what I would put together this evening. I highly recommend checking it out if you are interested in the keyword shortcuts.