This is the best way to add Amazon search suggestions to the search box in your browser.  Having the suggestions in hand, you will really be able to speed up your shopping.  This is much better than the default Amazon search, for one obvious reason – the suggestions you get.  Not only does this provide you with a quicker way to search.  It also helps with catching spelling mistakes and saving keystrokes.

You can pick up this addition to the Firefox browser over at the Firefox Add-ons web site. 

Want to hide what it is you have been looking for?  Not the perfect solution, but perfect for nit-picky peeps is the Clear Search add-on for Firefox.

What does this browser extension do?  It does one job, and it does it really well.  Once installed, it automatically clears the search bar after performing a search. So if you have a nosey roommate or family member, they won’t accidently see you have been searching for the top 10 horror villains of all time.

While this add-on for the browser isn’t enough to prevent somebody who is really nosey from going through your history, and doing a full scale investigation – it does serve the simple task or clearing out your search box after a search very well.  You can pick up the Clear Search extension on the Firefox add-ons web site.

Are you a big fan of Google’s custom search feature, which allows you to customize your own search engine to fit your needs?  The Custom Google Search add-on for Firefox, in that case, is a perfect companion. 

In a nutshell, this extension for Firefox allows you to create, use and mange your own Google Custom Engines from within the Firefox browser interface. 

You can pick up the Custom Google Search add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons web site. 

How can you remove your unused search engines?  Click on the Firefox search box, and then go down and select the Manage Search Engines… option. Now, on the Manage Search Engine List you can move up, move down or remove search engines you don’t use anymore.  

Just because you CAN add 200 or more search engines doesn’t mean you should.  This is just one more quick way you can lighten the load on your favorite browser.

• Googlepedia – delivering relevant Wikipedia articles along with your search results.
• Google Assistant – Surf Canyon – helps to unleash the power of search by helping you find relevant information buried in the search results of Google, Yahoo!, Live Search and more.
• VideoSurf Search Plugin – Use VideoSurf’s visual search engine to find videos from all over the web.
• Add to Search Bar – Make any pages’ search functionality available in Firefox’s built in search box.
• Advanced Dork – Get quick access to Google’s advanced operators (such as site:, intext:, and others) directly from Firefox’s context menu.
• AutoPager – Automatically load the next page of any site that has inline results.  When you reach the bottom of one page go to the next!
• CustomizeGoogle – Add tons of extra information and tools to Google and remove unwanted information you don’t need.
• Infoaxe – Full text history search synchronized between multiple computers and multiple browsers.  Think of it as bookmark syncing for your browsing history.
• Who Is This Person? – Highlight any name on the Web to see matching information from services like Wink, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Facebook, Google News, and more.
• BetterSearch – An add-on for Firefox and Flock which enhances Google and Yahoo! with all their international flavors, MSN and Delicious by adding previews (thumbnails) and additional functionality.

Have another favorite search add-on for Firefox that did not make it onto the list?  Leave it in the comments, because I would love to hear your opinion on which would be the king of the search extensions.

The idea here is to search right from the search box, rather than be taken to a new page to view your search results.  Inquisitor, over time, will learn to understand you better and tailor your results to suit your needs. 

Keyboard shortcuts, that you can add yourself will help extend the searches to other search engine providers too.

It has pretty written all over it.  Visually, this is one of the best looking add-ons for Firefox I have used in a really long time.  Watch this video tease to see it in action.

For more information, be sure to check out the official site:

• http://www.inquisitorx.com/firefox/

When push comes to shove, I am still a fan of the Firefox search box.  If you want a powerful alternative to Inquisitor though, I would highly suggest the CyberSearch add-on from CyberNet News. 

Let me tell you there are still plenty of good reasons to give this Firefox search tool a shot.  Once installed, it shrinks your search box to the smallest size it can.  However, as you type into the search box, it extends itself to the left – so you can see everything you have typed in thus far.

Diving Deeper into the Searchbar Autosizer Options…

You can configure just about every size and resizing option with the add-on, but for those of us who don’t like to get too geeky there are three basic setting to choose from:

• Size incrementally, to each letter
• Enlarge Search box on first strike
• Keep the same width all the time

When you have finished submitting a query, you can also choose to empty the search box (or not), revert to the default search engine (or not), and shrink search box to button if empty (or not).  They also promote the fact that their extension should work with any Firefox theme out there.  After testing with a few, I couldn’t prove them wrong on that point.   If you get stuck, they have a pretty nice FAQ too.

You can pickup this classic Firefox companion at the Firefox Add-ons web site or at the official web site for the extension.

• Locate the searchplugins folder in your Firefox install folder. (typically C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ on Windows).
• Open the google.xml file with a text editor.
• Locate a section that starts with <Image width=”16″ height=”16″>. You will see it is followed by a long series of characters (the encoded Google icon).
• Replace it with this equally unreadable code: the new encoded Google icon. Ensure the closing </Image> stays there.
• Save the file and restart Firefox.

If your picky about this sort of thing, or you just really love the new look this is a quick and easy hack to do.  Also check out Mozilla Links for more information on this awesome tip.

To use the search box, all you need to do is type in a phrase you’d like to search for into the box, and then hit the “Enter” key on your keyboard. From there you’ll be taken to a Web page with search results as you would see by going to the search engine’s Web site and doing it directly.

If you want to choose one of the other search engines you have installed, just click on the little square logo next to the search engine icon and you should get a drop down box with all the search engines you have installed. Pick the one you want to use, and then its icons should be shown beside the search box. To switch back, follow the same steps.

If there is a search engine that you need that doesn’t come with Firefox by default you can install it yourself to use. You can find a list of popular search plugins here. For even more choices, check out the Mycroft Project. If you want to make your own – this Web page is a good place to start learning how to do just that.

Firefox provides a dedicated box to search the internet. You can use that box to search your computer with Google Desktop as well. Follow the instructions below to obtain this result

+ Learn More About How To Integrate Google Desktop into Firefox!