Getting Serious About Searching, Part II
Wouldn't you know it? Last month, I showed how to add a search for the GEC Computers in the Classroom website in the Firefox browser.
Is it broken? Was there a mistake?
Nah. What happened was Firefox 2.0 was released and the way that search engines can be added as changed slightly. The plug-in still resides in the same location on your hard drive. (i.e. in the searchplugins folder of your Mozilla Firefox folder) But, the design of the plug-in has changed slightly. Here's the new format.
<SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/" xmlns:os="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<
os:ShortName>GECDSB Search</os:ShortName>
<
os:InputEncoding>utf-8</os:InputEncoding>
<
os:Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,R0lGODlhDgAQAPQAMf///+/
v797W1tbOzsbGxsbGvb29vaWlpZycnIyMjIR7e3t7e2tra1paWlJSSkpKSkJCOUI5OTk5OTEx
KTEpKSkpKSEhGCEYGBgYGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACwAAAAADgAQAAAFd
iAAHIlonmKClWfCjpeCAswkLABEzUAwABLEpRFICABHA6YAQEyeDkxFeKA4CADDZXHBXCh
KDEXFUEgClm7Xa3lcJpaSshsvONSVQIotmmMMJxAXF0cKXTInaBcIAA0XEDwFGDhwejwJE
QEXgDwiEAY4nSJFMyEAOw==</os:Image>
<
os:Url type="text/html" method="GET" template=
" http://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}&sitesearch=gecdsb.on.ca">
<
/os:Url>
<
/SearchPlugin>
Yes, it's a little guesome. All of the seemingly random characters in the middle actually define the GECDSB graphic. Rather than create the file above, click here and save the file to your searchplugins folder, reload Firefox, and you're back in business. If you'd like one to search the OSAPAC website, download it from here.
How about Internet Explorer 7?
How about the long awaited IE7? As noted earlier, it was released this month as well.
It also has a feature where you can do searches from right within the browser. No hard coding this time, but you need to do a couple of things to make it work.
If you've installed Internet Explorer 7, load the browser and pull down the search menu. Towards the bottom, you'll find the option to "Find More Providers". This takes you to a Microsoft webpage where you can add all kinds of other search engines. But, in this case, we want to search the GECDSB Computers in the Classroom website.
We already know how to limit a Google search to just a site, right? You do a Google search with "site:gecdsb.on.ca" followed by the search term. In this case, Microsoft wants you to search for "TEST". Copy the resulting address (it will be a long one) and paste it into the appropriate field on the Microsoft page, give the search a name, and you're almost there.
The following window pops up.
Add the provider and you're done!
You've got your own custom search in Internet Explorer 7. Repeat the same steps to add sites that you regular look for to your pull-down list of engines and you'll be power searching in no time at all.
Don't forget that you can also visit my Google Coop search page as well.
Custom Educational Technology Search Page
This Custom Search is now featured on the GEC Computers in the Classroom home page.
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