Tech Tip: Keyword Search in Firefox

Firefox is a great browser, but you already knew that, right? Firefox's keywords facility can be used for a neat search trick. It is best used for a directed search engine that digs specific data -- for example, a Bugzilla search, IMDb search, LXR search or Marcel/wine search http://www.wine-searcher.com, and so on. Here are the steps:

1. Using Firefox, go to a site that offers a simple search facility (for example, IMDb, LXR or your local Bugzilla).
2. Place the cursor within the search box.
3. Right-click, and select Add a Keyword for this Search.
4. Give your new search shortcut a name.
5. Give your new search shortcut a short keyword (for example, I use bz for my Bugzilla search and lxr for LXR).

That's it. To try out your new keyword search shortcut, open a new tab (Ctrl-T), place the cursor at the location bar (Ctrl-L), type your keyword followed by the search term(s)-for example, assuming you added keyword bz for the search at http://bugzilla.mozilla.org, then typing "bz 95849" in the location bar will show you this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95849.

This is an ideal way to use a search engine that digs through some specific data.