Internet Search Sites

Overview

Internet Search Sites is a feature of iCab (and of other browsers, under different names) that allows one to perform Web-based searches more rapidly and more conveniently than using entirely the Web sites themselves. There are three effectively equivalent ways to perform a Web-based search using this feature in iCab:

• The toolbar search box
• The standard Find dialog
• Directly in the address bar using a key

Each of these three options bypasses the need to call up the search page of the Web site in question and wait for the page to load and render: typing in your search criteria into the appropriate place allows iCab to take you straight to the results page for the search, because iCab passes the search request to the site directly. In the most optimal case - address bar search - a Google search for, say, iCab would be as simple as typing g iCab into the address bar and pressing return.

The search methods in more detail

Toolbar search uses the search box that by default in recent versions of iCab sits on the Location Bar to the right of the address bar. This box has a magnifying glass icon at the right-hand end, and contains the name of the site that any search will be performed with. By default, it is set to Google; the triangle icon on the left of the box brings up a menu from which to select a different site to be used for searching. Typing something into the box and pressing return will search the selected site (Google by default) for what was typed and iCab will display the results page in the current window or tab.

The Find dialog operates in a similar manner. The dialog contains a group of radio buttons headed Find; one of these is labelled On the Internet. If you select this option, your search will be conducted with a search site, as shown by the pop-up menu of available search sites (the same as those listed in the toolbar search box). With the Find dialog box, the results page automatically opens in a new window or tab, whereas toolbar search and address bar search default to replacing the current page. Curiously, with the Find dialog you can search up to two Web sites at once (e.g. Google and Lycos at the same time), by selecting two search sites with the two pop-up menus. Each one opens in its own window or tab. To return to using only one site, select --- for the second pop-up menu.

Address bar search is the fastest but the least memorable of the three. By assigning a letter to each search site (via the Preferences), called the key, you can conduct a search by typing the site's key followed by the search criteria directly into the address bar. For example, after assigning the key g to Google, you could search Google by typing g _search terms_. This method is very fast, but memorising all the different keys can prove tricky!

Adding and editing search sites

iCab comes with (at the time of writing) four preset search sites: Google, Yahoo, AltaVista and Lycos. But some people will desire to be able to search using other sites. So, how do you go about adding new search sites? The best place to start is with the simple method:

• Open the search page for the site, or find a search box
• Tell iCab about the search criteria box
• Describe the search

The following example involves Google as it is a site with which most readers will be familiar, although adding Google itself is not necessary as it already set-up by default.

Google's search box is, of course, on the front page of the site itself. Thus, navigate to Google's front page for your country. Next, iCab needs to know which form field (i.e. which box, in this case) is the one where your search criteria go - that is, where do you type in what you want to search for? Google only has one such box, of course. To tell iCab to use this as the basis for its search site settings, ctrl-click (or right click if you can!) on the search box and select Add Site to Internet Search List from the context menu.

Finally, iCab asks for a name and a key for the search. The name defaults to the domain of the site (in this case, www.google.com), but I would imagine you would enter Google instead. The key is optional and is only needed if you want to use address bar search. iCab also presents you with the HTTP GET (URL) and HTTP POST (form data) strings for the search, but most people will want to ignore these completely!

Now, you will be able to select your new search from the search box or the Find dialog, or perform address bar searching using any key provided.

Editing entries

Search sites can be edited via the Preferences. In Mac OS 9 and earlier, select the Searches > Internet Sites preferences pane to see the list; the location will be different in Mac OS X iCab. From here you can add, edit and delete search sites. Users who do not understand the technical details of how this search system works (HTTP POST and GET) are best off only editing the name and key of existing sites (click to rename), and only creating new items via the contextual menu item explained earlier.

For the techies

Those of you who know how form submission using HTTP GET and POST will be glad to know that the GET URLs and postdata can be edited directly in the preferences dialog. When performing a search, iCab appends the search criteria to the end of the GET URL/postdata, so you will want to make sure that you keep the URL such that it ends with an = to be followed by the criteria.

Usage tips

Keys are case sensitive: g iCab and G iCab represent two different searches, using two different sites. The benefit here is that you can use each letter twice, as lowercase and uppercase. One might for example use g for Google and G for Google Images. On the other hand, it can prove tricky to remember to use the correct case at times!

New tabs/windows: For address bar and search box searches, use cmd-return to open the results page in a new tab or window (whichever is your default). cmd-shift-return, cmd-opt-return and cmd-opt-shift-return(!) also work.

Find dialog: This dialog permanently remembers its settings. Don't forget to always check where it is going to search!

Search any site: This feature is not just for search engines! You can submit any form using it. For example, my list of sites includes:

• Google
• Dictionary.com
• Translate German to English via Google
• MacASP language reference
• Jargon File
• Acronym Finder
• TranceAddict forums tracklist forum

Note that the list includes a Web search engine, reference sites, text translation, and internal site searches. The last one is an excellent example of another really useful feature. When you create a new search site setting, iCab takes note of every part of the form. For example, a form might contain these items:

• Search for:
• Results per page:
• Language:
• { All words, Any words }

Adding that form to iCab will do more than just store the site details. iCab will memorise and reproduce the whole form: the values for results per page, language and whether you want to search for any or all of the given words. Thus, you can tailor the search to your liking first and iCab will always memorise those settings. This alone can prove a time saver in itself. In the real-life case in question, I have iCab set to search a particular forum of a Web site, by selecting the forum from a pop-up menu on the search page such that it will always remember that choice and search just that forum when I use that search site.

There is actually no limit to what sort of forms you add as search sites. iCab does not and cannot tell whether any given form is an actual search form, or a form designed for any other purpose. iCab is merely automating the process of submitting a Web form for convenience. I have found very little use so far for adding anything but plain search forms to iCab thus far, though that does not necessarily mean that you can't use the system for nifty dodges and wheezes

-- DanielBeardsmore - 05 Feb 2005