Different search providers on Address Bar and Search Bar ?
Firefox's "Address Bar" can act as a search engine.There is also another separate "Search Bar" that I can have next to it.When I choose a search provider, both of these search areas use the same search provider.Is it possible to have, let's say, Google engine on the Address Bar and Bing engine on the Search Bar ? Right now I don't see the point of having a separate Search Bar if it does exactly the same that Address Bar does and takes up unnecessary space.On other hand, if it was possible to have different search providers that would make it a lot more useful and there would be no need to install a separate Search Toolbar to slow everything down. Is there any way to allow different search providers by editing about:config entries? Thanks.
Chosen solution
The best built-in approach is to assign a "smart keyword" to the search engines you want to use in the address bar. This article explains what I mean: How to search IMDB, Wikipedia and more from the address bar.
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I've heard there is a long term plan to consolidate them. For now, you can use this extension to select a different search engine for the address bar:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/keyword-search/
After installation, to adjust its settings, you'll go to the Add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
In the left column, click Extensions. Then find the extension and click the Options button.
Can you get it set up the way you want?
Thank you for the tip, but I was hoping to do it without an extension.I already have 19 of them that serve different purposes and this slows the browser down a lot.Hopefully in future the developers will add this feature.
Chosen Solution
The best built-in approach is to assign a "smart keyword" to the search engines you want to use in the address bar. This article explains what I mean: How to search IMDB, Wikipedia and more from the address bar.
George,
It wasn't that many versions ago that the developers changed Firefox so that the Search Bar, the Location Bar, and the default homepage use the same search engine. And as of Firefox 32 they added a search container to the new tab page; which, yes, uses the same search engine that the other 3 "containers" use. So I wouldn't expect them to change back to separate search engines in any location.
So if you want to change that feature in Firefox, you'll need an extension - or use "Smart keywords" for the Location Bar search as Jefferson mentioned.
And I concur with Jefferson as far as the separate Search Bar eventually disappearing - consolidation with the Location Bar. All Mozilla needs now is a method / control for selecting the different installed Search Plugins to be used. When that happens, the separate Search Bar will be history - or the user will need yet another extension to restore it.
Thank you everyone for the help.Using smart keyword requires an extra step but it will work.Now I have to find a way to make single key searches faster.Firefox checks single key search words to see if they are a common website names so it takes very long time for search to happen.
EDIT: I changed browser.fixup.alternate.enabled to false and that cut the search time by half.
Modified by GeorgePeterson
I keep going back to this specific thread just to get that Keyword Search addon. That was a really dumb decision on the part of the dev team to change them. Every time I get on a computer that doesn't have it, I always search for things on YouTube when I was expecting to get Google.
StompingJoe,
Just wait until Firefox 34 is released on Tuesday, the change that was being discussed in this thread was very minor in comparison to what is in Firefox 34 - a whole new UI for the Search bar and a new Search tab in Options.
Fingers crossed that it'll be an 'agreement' between old school and new school. Two bars... hell, give me six. Plaster 'em everywhere.