Computer and Web Articles

If you use Google on a regular basis, a Firefox add-on called CyberSearch might help make your searching experiences simpler and more efficient.

Installing CyberSearch 2.0.5 (download and install instructions here: http://tinyurl.com/3twze2) allows you to conduct quick Google searches in Firefox’s address bar (that bar at the top of your screen that displays the address of the website you’re viewing).

Let’s say you’ve gone ahead and installed CyberSearch. And let’s say that upon opening up Firefox you’ve suddenly decided you want to learn more about Whackbat. To search all the web, you’d click inside the address bar (or use the shortcut Ctrl + L) and type “gweb whackbat”. The gweb part just means you’re using Google (g) and you’re searching the whole web (web).

But perhaps you’re only interested in finding videos on how to play Whackbat. In this case, you’d type in “gvid whackbat”.

If you’re interested only in finding the latest Whackbat news headlines, you’d type in “gnews whackbat”.

Oh–you say you only wanted to see *images* of Whackbat? In that case, try typing “gimg whackbat”.

Only care about instances where people have mentioned Whackbat in blogs? You’d want to type this instead: “gblog whackbat”.

After using this quick-search functionality for a couple days, you’ll begin remembering the little “g-codes” to use in your searches. And remember, these searches are done right smack dab in the address bar at the top of your page. No need to go to Google.com.

And for those of you thinking “Why would I use this when I have the Google toolbar??” — the Google toolbar is all well and good if you conduct simple, standard web searches all day. But if you’d like to be able to quickly specify what type of results you’re interested in (images? blogs? videos? news?), CyberSearch adds that extra level of convenience.