Daniel Marino

Creating a Custom Firefox Search

I had been wanting to create a custom Firefox Search to search PC Connection’s website for over a year. Since I work there, I’m constantly searching the site throughout the day. PCC’s search input box is strategically placed in the upper right-hand corner of the web site. Without thinking, I very often type in my search terms into the Firefox search box (which defaults to Google when you install FF). I press Enter and I’ve wasted 3.74 seconds of my day because I have to click the back button, type the search terms into PCC’s input box and press enter again. I do this at least two or three times a day, which is making me slightly unproductive, but more importantly, very annoyed!

I looked at Firefox’s development section on creating Custom search toolbars back when I was making a bad habit of the above scenario. For whatever reason, I wasn’t able to get it working properly. I kept growing more and more annoyed as I kept playing out the above scenario. I decided to give it another go. I recently searched Google for an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to create a FF custom search, and came across a super nifty web app, Ready2Search.

Just follow the on screen instructions, and wallah – you’ve got yourself a custom Firefox Search. I find myself using it more than the actual search input on the site.