For some time the Firefox Web browser has featured a "search bar", which usually defaults to using Google. Enter some text into the search bar and Google will seek matches for it (see Figure 1).
 

The search bar has a drop-down list, with other selectable search engines (see Figure 2).
 

For a bit of retail therapy choose to shop at eBay (see Figure 3).

Firefox 2 introduces new features. Developers can define a Web site as being "open search compatible" which means that it can quickly be registered in the search engine list whenever the site is browsed. The example below shows how this can be done with the Wikipedia English site (see Figure 4).
 

A very good tool to add to the search bar in this way is `MyCroft' http://mycroft.mozdev.org/  MyCroft discovers other search compatible sites. It presents a list of candidates, any of which can be chosen by clicking on the associated link. Here is an example of choosing a thesaurus using Mycroft, once it has been added to the search bar (See Figure 5).

In fact with a little bit of XML it is possible to define a search bar entry for any publicly accessible Web site — Melbourne PC User Group for instance. Here is an example of searching for `mornington' on the Melb PC site once a suitable search bar entry had been added. See Figure 6. To find out how this was done see the Melbourne PC Plugin sample code listed below.
 

It has always been possible to add to the Firefox search bar list. What is new in Firefox 2 is the "Manage Search Engine List" option for adjusting it to exactly the way you want it. That is why my list probably looks different to yours — I have adjusted it to suit my needs. See Figure 7.

Why is all this important? Why not just use Google to search everything — isn't that good enough? The answer to the second question supplies the one for the first. Searching everything can be a problem. What if you are only interested in items for sale? The example of restricting a search to eBay for this purpose has already been presented. To take another situation, what if you need images, but only from the public domain so that you don't have to worry about negotiating copyright? A site such as Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org is restricted to public domain items, so that is a good place to look. You can add Wikimedia Commons to the search bar list in the manner described above then quickly choose from it whenever required, and be confident that you won't be creating copyright headaches. See Figure 8.
 

The World Wide Web is a sea of information and we need all the help we can get to navigate its shoals and reefs. Search engines are a primary tool for this task, and the improvements to the Firefox search bar are a valuable contribution to making them even more useful.

About the Author
Richard Forster, a long time Melb PC member is a project officer at Swinburne University (TAFE Division)