Current mood:	non-lazy
Entry tags:	firefox, programming

NewEgg Firefox Quick Search Bookmarklet

If you use Firefox, you may have discovered that you can use and create quick searches (also called smart keywords) for pretty much any website you want, provided they support GET queries. Common quick searches include Google and IMDB. This works by simply typing a chosen keyword (set in the bookmark's properties) into a blank address bar, followed by your search query (i.e. "imdb Sean Connery") would fill Sean%20Connery where %s appears in the quick search URL. (%20 is the escape sequence for a space in a URL) More info about how to work with quick searches is available at lifehacker.com.

This becomes a difficulty when the website is expecting a different URL format for the GET query, like NewEgg. NewEgg expects the GET query to be separated by plus signs (+) instead of %20. Using the standard quick search results in a failure and an error page. Since Firefox does not allow custom space replacement, a work around had to be made. I decided to try my hand at a bookmarklet quick search. You can drag this bookmarklet into your bookmarks (usually, your "Quick Searches" bookmark folder) and assign it a keyword by right-clicking on it and entering whatever you want (mine's "ne").

Get the NewEgg Quick Search (sorry, LiveJournal blocks bookmarklets, visit my page to get this bookmarklet, though)

You can make use of the NewEgg Quick Search bookmarklet by either:

1. ... clearing the address bar, typing in the keyword you choose, a space then your desired product search
2. ... selecting a portion of a website that you want to search for, then clicking the NewEgg Quick Search
3. ... just clicking the bookmarklet and typing your product search into the prompt that appears

You can also substitute clicking for entering the keyword into the address bar in the last two steps, if you want. This is not tested in other browsers, so it may or may not work, I don't know.

I hope you get some use out of this bookmarklet. Let me know if you have any ideas for other stubborn quick searches.