Recently, @michaelkennedy wrote a great blog post about using custom search engines way more.
This is a really cool trick when you already know the site where the thing you're looking lives, e.g. Github, PyPI, etc.
Instead of
- navigating to your search engine or opening a new tab on your browser,
- doing a web search, e.g.
pypi django-htmx, - skimming over a bunch of noise and ads, and (finally)
- finding and clicking on the link that brings me to the project page on PyPI
I can just enter pypi django-htmx in the browser url field and end up directly to the PyPI search results page. 🎉
How?
Here is how to set it up in Firefox:
- Right-click on the search field on any website and click
Add a Keyword for this Search...
- Provide a keyword for your search, e.g.
pypi
(via this superuser answer)
Here is what I have set up so far:
| Site | keyword | url |
|---|---|---|
| Deepl | deepl | https://www.deepl.com/translator#en/de/%s |
| Django Docs | dj | https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/search/?q=%s |
| Google(*) | g | https://www.google.com/search?q=% |
| Github | gh | https://github.com/search?q=%s&type=repositories |
| Google Maps | gm | https://www.google.com/maps/search/%s |
| PyPI | pypi | https://pypi.org/search/?q=%s |
| RealPython | rp | https://realpython.com/search?_from=nav&q=%s |
| StackOverflow | so | https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%s |
| Unspash | u | https://unsplash.com/s?searchKeyword=%s |
| Youtube | y | https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s |
(*) I'm using Ecosia as default search engine.
May you find what you're looking with fewer requests and fewer ads.