Ask HN: How useful are in-browser-bar search shortcuts? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How useful are in-browser-bar search shortcuts?

1 pointyowayb3 comments

In Firefox you can right-click on a site's search box and "Add a Keyword for this Search...". In Chrome you can manually add search engines and assign keywords. In Orion you can bookmark a URL and insert a query variable.

DuckDuckGo bangs are decent, but I don't like that it has to hit duckduckgo.com first (please feel free to criticize this preference). And while I've only used a handful of DDG bangs, the AirBnb one is not as good as the URL I extracted myself.

I'm wondering why it's not easier to configure browsers to send queries directly to a site's own search engine.

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You may be interested in this FF extension: https://hw.leftium.com/#/item/34214799

> Banger lets you execute !bangs client-side without having to send a request to a search engine's server each time you fetch a bang.

Also with Kagi custom bangs you can use the AirBnB URL you extracted yourself: https://help.kagi.com/kagi/features/bangs.html#custom-bangs

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I'm designing "search runes," which will be an enhanced version of DDG bangs.

- The web app will eventually allow executing "bangs" directly on the target site as you desire. (Currently just falls back on Kagi.com)

- You will also be able to customize/share your own bangs. (Similar to https://multi-launch.leftium.com/)

- Latest prototype: https://bangtastic.vercel.app/

- Very minimal right now, but I already use it on a daily basis. It provides:

1. An easier way to type `!` on mobile. (Just tap `SPACE` 1-2 times)

2. A way to browse all 13,566 (normalized) DDG bangs.

3. Also works from browser omni-bar! (After you register the search engine)

BTW https://multi-launch.leftium.com already lets you send queries directly to a site's own search engine. (If JS is enabled. The site is also designed to work without JS!)

I made that web app last year, and recently realized I had implemented search engine/bangs without the triggers.

So I'm redesigning this web app around search bangs, which I call "search runes" because they have more features (like triggering different URL's based on the type of input).

Great thank you! I'll check these out.

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