Mycroft searches for MeFi and MeTa

April 25, 2004 10:37 PM

For those of us that use Mozilla/Firefox, I wrote up a couple Mycroft searches, one each for MeFi and MetaTalk. (they're listed in the "Undefined" category)
posted by quasistoic to MetaFilter-Related at 10:37 PM (12 comments total)

My links don't seem to like me tonight. The search plugins are located here, under "Undefined." (I can't link directly to the download page.)
posted by quasistoic at 11:17 PM on April 25, 2004

cool, thanks for doing this.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:45 PM on April 25, 2004

Brilliant, thanks.
posted by snarfodox at 1:35 AM on April 26, 2004

I have just switched to firefox (and i am thoroughly enjoying it), but i don't have a clue about what mycroft searches are.
Can anyone explain?
posted by FidelDonson at 3:24 AM on April 26, 2004

The search bar built into firefox is the mycroft project. I believe the default search engine is google. You can add tons of other search engines to the search bar, simply by clicking the link for the engine you want at the mycroft site (linked above). The plugins I wrote offer the ability to use the search bar to search mefi or metalk.

On a related note, I find the Dictionary Search plugin very useful: it allows you to highlight text on a page, right-click, and search the engine of your choice. The current version allows you to use 4 different search engines of your choice.
posted by quasistoic at 4:13 AM on April 26, 2004

By the way, if you go in to your prefs.js file (in the profile folder) and add the line:
user_pref("browser.tabs.opentabfor.searchbar_always", true);
any search from the search bar will open in a new tab. I prefer to then have it automatically focus, but you could also add the line:
user_pref("browser.tabs.extensions.loadInBackgroundSearchBar", true);
to have the page load in the background and leave your focus alone.
posted by snarfodox at 5:03 AM on April 26, 2004

Whoa! Thanks quasistoic!
posted by sciurus at 12:39 PM on April 26, 2004

That's fantastic. Didn't even know about that bar. Oh well, at least it increases my efficiency at work.
posted by loquax at 6:26 PM on April 26, 2004

Nice one, quasistoic.

I wonder if you can explain why there's no plugin that will execute a Google search of whatever site you're on at the time? Or one that will find Google's backward links for a page? I really miss these features in the Google toolbar but I have no idea what the authoring process for a Mycroft search is. Any light?
posted by scarabic at 9:49 AM on April 27, 2004

I've not tried it myself, but there's a Googlebar for mozilla project going. Perhaps this will do?
posted by BigCalm at 8:58 AM on April 28, 2004

I use the Googlebar for Firefox and it works exactly the same as the one for IE.
posted by dg at 3:15 PM on April 28, 2004

Hot damn!

I wrote up a couple Mycroft searches, one each for MeFi and MetaTalk. (they're listed in the "Undefined" category)

You're just awesome and that's all there is to it.

By the way, if you go in to your prefs.js file (in the profile folder) and add the line:...

And so are you.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:01 PM on April 29, 2004