If you’re a Firefox user, you know that the address bar is one of the most important elements of your browser. It’s where you see your favorite websites and tools, as well as all of the links that open in tabs. The address bar can be supercharged with CyberSearch, a new add-on for Firefox that makes it easier to find websites and tools in the address bar. With CyberSearch, you can quickly and easily find any website or tool that you’re interested in. CyberSearch is available now in Firefox version 26 and above. To get started, just open Firefox and click on the three lines at the top left corner of your screen. From here, select “Add-ons.” Then select “CyberSearch.” After clicking on “Add-ons,” select “CyberSearch.” You’ll now see a list of all of the add-ons that are available for Firefox. Click on “CyberSearch” to install it. After installation is complete, open Firefox and click on the three lines at the top left corner of your screen again to start using CyberSearch.
CyberSearch in Action
Here is a list of the built-in keywords that come with the CyberSearch extension…definitely a very nice starting list. You will probably want to make a note of these somewhere for quick referencing until you have used the extension for a little bit. Time to see what things look like with some quick examples…
Note: You can add new “personalized for you” keywords if desired in the options.
For our first example we used the “Bing Spell Function” and purposely misspelled the word “office”. Notice that the proper spelling is instantly shown in at the top of the list.
Note: The blue background color was selected in the options to make CyberSearch results stand out.
Then we decided to use the “Google Web Function” to search for the term “howtogeek”. Definitely lots of results…and there are helpful identifying website favicons for each listing.
And finally a search using the “Google Video Function” with the term “windows 7”. Once again the favicons are very helpful in identifying the particular video webservice that each video is located at.
Options
In the “Keywords Tab Area” you can manage and/or add new keywords. While you are in this tab area, it is recommended that you enable keywords to help maximize functionality for the extension.
Note: The keyword starting list shown above will still work nicely without enabling keywords here.
Modify how CyberSearch acts in the “Behavior Tab Area”. While the “Magnifying Glass Icon” shown in the address bar results help identify returns from CyberSearch versus other items, modifying the color will make them stand out even better.
Enable or disable individual keyword prefix, auto domain search, or multi-page results settings in the “Triggers Tab Area”.
Decide the display properties for CyberSearch in the “Appearance Tab Area”. Notice that you can specify a particular number of rows and results for CyberSearch in the “Address Bar”.
Import/export CyberSearch Keywords or import/manage Firefox Keywords in the “Import/Export Tab Area”.
If for some reason your settings have become messed up or you simply want to start over, you can reset everything to the original defaults in the “Reset Tab Area”.
Conclusion
If you have been looking for great way to enhance Firefox’s Address Bar, then you are definitely going to want this extension added to your browser.
Links
Download the CyberSearch extension (Mozilla Add-ons)
Download the CyberSearch extension (Extension Homepage) Includes Demo Video
