Instantfox does much more than just eliminate the need for the search box.  You can also get results instantly as you type and loads up content on the fly.  There is some memorization needed to remember the quick search key-letters to type on to the address bar to do your searches.

g » for Google Search
i » for Google Images
m » for Google Maps
y » for Youtube
t » for Twitter
w » for Wikipedia
a » for Amazon
e » for eBay
c » for Calculator

Now, while some might see this as a drawback – I actually see this as a useful feature. This means I can use Instantfox when I see fit and it doesn’t totally replace the way Firefox handles the address bar. In everyday use, the Firefox address bar is the same as it always was.  However, if you type in g then a space and then type out a keyword – you are searching Google instantly.  I like that.

Want to learn more about this amazing little add-on for Firefox? Head on over to Instantfox.net.

RecallMoney takes a page from the search engines out there and put together a pretty nice search engine on top the the Firefox history database.  All results are ranked depending on the relevancy of the keyword you search.   Here are a few more details about the extension from the developers:

Then, we added on some other features like filtering by time and the ability to “pin” websites. For example, you remember that article on water was on Quora, so you can pin Quora (by clicking on its domain name) while searching to prioritize its results. RecallMonkey lets you pin up multiple sites at the same time.

You can learn more about RecallMonkey via the Mozilla Labs blog or pick it up for yourself on the Firefox Add-ons website.

The idea here is simple.  The AmazonAssist add-on is suppose to help me discover relevant Amazon products while I surf around the Internet. As I search for products, the AmazonAssist add-on for Firefox will use my search keywords to find matching products on Amazon.com and will display them in a different search result panel.

To give a test drive, I searched for “NES” on Google:

To it’s credit – the AmazonAssist (across the bottom of the window) did find relevant content as it related to my search. So yes, AmazonAssist works! If you see a product that interests you in the AmazonAssist window, simply click it and you will be taken to the listing for that product on the Amazon website.

Now for those of you worried about Amazon spying on you, they are straight forward when it comes to telling you what information they are looking at.

AmazonAssist collects information from certain websites you visit, including major search engine websites, in order to improve your search experience. If you also have an Amazon.com cookie, AmazonAssist will associate your web browsing information with your cookie and account information in order to help us further personalize your Amazon shopping experiences. If you do not want your web browsing information associated with your Amazon.com account, you can easily opt-out within the AmazonAssist application.

If you like to do all your shopping through Amazon, this add-on is simply a really handy addition to an already great service.  You can pick it up at the Firefox Add-ons website.

File this add-on under awesome.  The Places’ Tooltip add-on for Firefox adds more detailed information about the bookmarks and links you have saved to your browser. 

It shows you more than your standard name and address, as Firefox does by default.  Once installed, you can see:

the last visited date, the tags associated with the link, the description and the keywords

It shows the tooltip for and in:

all links, folders, bookmarks, RSS items in the bookmarks toolbar, bookmarks menu, history menu and sidebars

This is a great simple extension for those who just need to have a little more information handy about the links they have saved to the browser.  You can pick up the Places’ Tooltip add-on on the Firefox Add-ons web site.

What if you just want to do a regular Google search? 

There is an easy way to turn your address bar into a Google search box.  You want to type into your address bar about:config.  Next, type into the filter keyword.URL. Once you have found it there, modify the string in there and replace it with:

http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=

From now on, when you type in a word or phrase into the address bar and hit enter, it will launch a Google search for it rather than giving you Google’s top result for that word or phrase.

This comes in handy when you bookmark a page, and your not sure exactly with what words it should be tagged with (or you don’t want to take the time to think it out).  There is no need for straining your brain to think of descriptive tags any longer with this extension.

You can pick HandyTag up on the Firefox Add-ons web site and learn more about HandyTag on the official web site.  It is still sandboxed on Firefox’s web site, so if you need a login to try it out, be sure to checkout these bugmenot username and password combinations.

If you’d like to power it up some, you need to pick up CyberSearch.  This extension allow you to perform various Google searches right from the address bar.  The fun doesn’t stop there.  It also displays the results in the awesome bar format along with your history.

You can do a number of special searches too, depending on the keywords that you use. You can do a Web Search, Local Search, Video Search, Blog Search, News Search, Book Search, Image Search, or Patent Search.

If you still need help wrapping your mind around this tool, be sure to check out the video tutorial on it they have put together for you.

Pick up this Firefox add-on on the Firefox Add-ons site or from CyberNet News.  Also big congrats to Ryan and Ashley for putting out such an awesome Firefox extension!  Great job!

1. Click on Bookmarks.
2. Right-click on any bookmark you have there.
3. Choose properties.

Now, third from the top, there is a text box called “Keyword”. Most likely, this is blank because by default it’s not used at all. Welcome to the wonderful world to keyword bookmarking. Let me show you how to use it.

Say for instance that you wanted to create a keyword bookmark for the search on firefoxfacts.com. Ok, lets go to that page. After using the Firefox Facts search using the words “test”, I come to the page:

http://www.firefoxfacts.com/index.php?s=test

If I bookmark it, it will look like any other bookmark.

Then, if I look at the properties of my newly created bookmark, I can make a few changes to it to transform it into a keyword bookmark:

1. Notice that the my search term “test” is in the address in the location field.
2. Replace that with the string “%s” to get http://www.firefoxfacts.com/index.php?s=%s.
3. Add a keyword to the keyword field. I chose “fxfacts” but anything will work. Use something short and you can remember.
4. Press OK.

Yay, now we have a keyword bookmark. This is how to use it:

1. Type the keyword of the bookmark in the address bar. (In my example “fxfacts”)
2. Type any search terms after that. (My example: “fxfacts bookmarks”)
3. Press the enter key.

Firefox will now take me to the Firefox Facts search for bookmarks just like that. Let’s see IE7 can do that!

Post by Samuel Brisby – Sam is currently a student majoring in computer science who loves and supports anything open-source especially the Firefox browser. Questions or comments can be sent to spamuel42 (at) gmail.com.

Now usually one or two might do you, as far as keywords go. Every so often though, you just can’t think of any good ones to use. That is where the KGen extension for Firefox comes in.

KGen (Keyword Generator) is an extension that allows you to see what keywords are strong on visited web page. Than, you can retrieve them for social sharing (tag filling) or webmastering/SEO.

+ Download and Install the KGen Extension for Firefox!

If I could have had a easier way of getting to where I am today – I would appreciate that as well.

I recently ran across a Firefox extension called Percula. What does it do? It helps you search Monster.com for jobs or employers depending on the keyword that you highlight on a Web page. Say you were looking at this page here and highlighted the word Firefox. After that all you would need to do is right click and you could search for jobs that have something to do with Firefox.

If you are looking for a new job or you find yourself using Monster.com a lot, this extension could save you a lot of time. It makes searching for a future workplace just a little ‘bit easier.

+ Download and Install the Percula Extension for Firefox!