User:Quiddity (WMF)/search tips

Some search tips.

Browser extension - For highlighted text searches

• On Firefox, I enjoy Swift Selection Search with 18 configured destinations.

  (See screenshot on imgur and config you can save-as-file and import).

• On Chrome/Chromium, I use Selection Search.

Both are open source, and highly configurable.

1 or 2-letter URL bar searches - For typed searches

This will enable you to search any wiki (or other website) by typing "1+ character" and "your search term(s)", directly into the browser address bar.

E.g. I often type things things like m foo or w wp:VPT or mw keyword, for quick access to a search at meta-wiki / enwiki / mediawiki-wiki.

Firefox

1. Right-click in any site's search box, and select "Add a keyword for this search".
2. Type a letter (or word) in the "keyword section.

Chrome/Chromium

1. Go to your Settings -> Search engine tab.
2. Click the "hamburger icon" next to the site you want to change, and change the keyword to something shorter than the default.

Alternative cross-browser method - Bookmarks

• This enables sharing across browsers/computers.
• Technically, each is just based on creating a link/bookmark for https://....../w/index.php?search=%s
  • You just need to:
    1. Do a search at the site for foo
    2. bookmark that link
    3. edit the bookmark's URL to replace the foo with %s
    4. Then add a letter or two, into the "keyword" box
  • E.g. A Google bookmark such as http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&hl=en&num=20&safe=off would get: 20 results, without [extra] censorship, and defaulting to English. Hence, I can type g 42*42+42= to use their calculator function.
  • E.g. A Meta-wiki search for: pages with "abstract" in the title, only in English, in 4 specific namespaces = https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=%s+inlanguage%3Aen+intitle%3Aabstract&title=Special:Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns0=1&ns4=1&ns200=1&ns202=1