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 Twitter Address Bar Search is a restartless add-on that lets you search for #hashtags and @usernames from the Firefox address bar.  It is a very simple tool, but does what it says it is going to do – so you can not argue there.  The neat feature here is that you can also use it on the mobile version of Firefox too. 

Here are a few more praise worthy features from the developers:

• Instantly connect: Search people and topics on Twitter using @ and # from the address bar.
• Stay informed and updated: The pinned Twitter App tab lights up when new Tweets arrive.
• Search Twitter: Switch to Twitter Search by clicking the drop down arrow in the search box.

You can pick up the Twitter Address Bar Search add-on for Firefox from the Firefox Add-ons website.

The add-on looks to enhance the way you interact with content from your favorite website services.  Check out this quick video tour to learn more:

For people with plenty of screen real estate, this really is a great tool to add to the browser.  Your searches, social link sharing and much more are just pulled up in a popup window that comes from the right of the screen.  You might think this would get in the way of things – but it also does a good job at hiding itself when you don’t need it front and center.

KwiClick can display the results of your searches from the Firefox search box, which makes finding the right site easier than ever. This is an option that can be turned on/off whenever you like.

Want to give it a shot? Go download KwiClick for Firefox over at 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.

The biggest pain, other than cosmetics, is having to re-teach yourself the way you browse.  You have to get used to having that ability at your fingertips to do searches inside a website and get used to the usefulness that an add-on like this brings.

What are some of the newest features?

• Customizable keyboard shortcut to call up Apture Search
• Performance improvements, contextual search results now even faster
• Secure: Automatically disabled on HTTPS (secure) websites to not interfere with your private information
• What’s that word? Dictionary definitions now included in search results

and that is only scratching the surface of what the amazing Apture Highlights add-on can do.

You can pick up the Apture Highlights add-on from the Firefox Add-ons website.

The first thing you will want to do is point your browser towards the OpenSearch plugin generator.  This awesome utility allows you to create a search plugin in he open search format that Firefox (and many other browsers) use.  This way you could search Firefox Facts without even visiting the website first and typing your search into my search form.  The only hard part about this is locating the HTML source code that represents the search box on the website.  In Firefox, you can do this fairly easily by right-clicking on a website, choose "View Source" and then find where the form starts for the search box.

Here is one more quick tip, if you hit "Ctrl + F" you can bring up the search options in the webpage’s view source pane.  From there, search for "form" until you find the right form you need.  For webmasters, this should be pretty easy. Now, for the easy part.

On the OpenSearch plugin generator webpage, simply fill in the website name, the website URL and then copy and paste in the form data you found on the website you want to create the search plugin for.  I would recommend not changing the data for input encoding, plugin file name, or favicon file name. Next, hit the big button labeled "Generate Plugin".

The website will now give you the code you need to save on your own website hosting server to make the search plugin work.  Scroll down the webpage, and make sure you follow each step as they have it.  Once you are done, you too can have your own search plugin like this:

Install Firefox Facts Search Plugin

Hope this helps you create a search plugin for your own website.  If you do create one using this method, be sure to share it in the comments!

We all have questions about how Firefox works and how we can tweak it to make it better.  That is the single greatest aspect of this fantastic browser. So, with the end of the year coming up quick I thought it was about time we took a look back at the 25 most popular browser tweaking tips, customizations and tutorials I have posted on Firefox Facts over the years.  These 25 posts you see are the most visited topics from all of the support related articles I have written.

You voted for these with your mouse clicks over the past year, so let us check out the most popular Firefox support posts of 2010.

Change Default Search in Firefox

Tired of having Google as the default search engine in Firefox? Maybe it is another search engine’s turn to be on top?! If you feel the urge to dethrone Google as the default search engine for your Firefox search box – this is how you can get it done.

How to Backup Firefox Bookmarks

Backing up your bookmarks is one of those chores you have on your to-do list but never get around to it.  Then when they are lost, you say – I wish I would have.  Here are a few Firefox bookmark backup techniques to help you out.

Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

about:robots – Firefox 3 Secret!

For those of you playing with Firefox 3 – Beta 5, try typing about:robots into your address bar and hit enter.

Firefox 3.6 Fix – Open New Tabs in Far Right

New to Firefox 3.6, when you are on a page, and you want to open a link in a new tab – rather than opening the link in the far right of the tab bar, Firefox will now open the link right next to the tab you are in.  Now, while this might be convenient for some, it is a feature I don’t really need.  So here is how you can disable the new “Insert Related Tab After Current” tweak in Firefox 3.6.

Have a lot of tabs open, but only need to find those that meet a certain criteria? The Firefox add-on named Tab Filter / Tab Search will give you that ability.  Once installed, this extension lets you only show tabs that match the results you want to see.

To start filtering through all the open tabs, simply right-click on the tab toolbar, and select "Filter Tabs".  This will bring up the menu you see above.  Now, you can type in text to match a title, URL or both to show only the tabs you want to see.  Here is another example from the author of the add-on.

Searches will be matched against the tab’s URL, title or both. Allows " or " conditions ( multiples searches ), and the prefix "-" for word exclusion. Searching "google music -pop, yahoo music -pop" will keep all tabs that contains google and music or yahoo and music, and will hide these containing "pop".

Tab Filter / Tab Search also comes with a handy keyboard shortcut too.  You can simply click Ctrl + Alt + F to show or hide this exceptional tool.  You can download Tab Filter / Tab Search from the Firefox Add-ons website.

After checking over some of my statistics in Google Analytics, I figured it might be interesting to share with you some of the support articles that people come to check out here on Firefox Facts most often.  Here are the 6 most popular support related tweaks and tips for Firefox.

How to Backup Firefox Bookmarks

Backing up your bookmarks is one of those chores you have on your to-do list but never get around to it.  Then when they are lost, you say – I wish I would have.  Here are a few Firefox bookmark backup techniques to help you out.

Where is my Firefox Profile Folder?

This is a question we get time and time again, so I thought I would post the full listing for where your profile folder is for Mozilla Firefox based on your operating system of choice.

Search from the Address Bar in Firefox

The other day, when we were talking about bringing Chrome features into Firefox, the topic “searching from the address bar” was mentioned.  By default, when you type a word into the address bar by itself, it gives you Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” number one result.

Launch Tabs from Run Box

In need of a quicker way to launch Firefox with a series of tabs? You can quickly do so in Windows by clicking on the start button, then go to run (or just hit Win+R) and type in.

More Command Line Firefox Tips

After yesterday’s post about launching tabs from the run box I thought I would share with you some other command line Firefox tips worth getting familiar with.

Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.