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This, along with !bang syntax and respect for privacy is what makes DDG my favourite search engine. I really love typing "Maxwell's equations !w" or similar if

by itcrowd 11y ago

This, along with !bang syntax and respect for privacy is what makes DDG my favourite search engine. I really love typing "Maxwell's equations !w" or similar if I know I want the Wikipedia page for it. Although the search results aren't always perfect (I still use Google occasionally, especially for non-English queries) these features are truly killer. Learned some !bang shortcuts and it saves me time every single day. The cheatsheets are good too and having StackOverflow answers pop up at the top is also a great way to quickly get the right info.

saalweachter 11y ago
If you want the Wikipedia page, why don't you go to Wikipedia and search there?
- mpitt 11y ago
  Because going to Wikipedia, waiting for it to load and then searching is a two-step process, while writing a query with a !w is only one step.
  - tucosan 11y ago
    Why not simply use quicksearch in Chrome/FF? Instead of having to go through ddg, I simply directly search wikipedia via `wp foo` or youtube via `y bar`.
    - contravariant 11y ago
      I use both, but the '!bang' syntax is more convenient when you simply want to repeat a search using a different search engine, or want to use an engine you don't have a quicksearch for (you could of course add them, but sometimes it's just not worth the trouble for the few times you need it).
    - r3bl 11y ago
      Because it won't work in every browser and making shortcuts the same across Firefox and Chrome is a hassle, plus you can never get up to thousands of shortcuts that DDG has. Sometimes, I'm just experimenting. I had no idea that DDG had a Flickr bang because I never had the need to use Flickr before, but I just added !f to my query and I got the results I was looking for.
    - sp332 11y ago
      DDG is my new-tab page, so that helps. Plus, if the wiki page is lacking, I can just go back and do a normal search or a Google search or a Stack Overflow search just by changing a couple characters at the end.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

by itcrowd 11y ago

saalweachter 11y ago

If you want the Wikipedia page, why don't you go to Wikipedia and search there?

mpitt 11y ago
Because going to Wikipedia, waiting for it to load and then searching is a two-step process, while writing a query with a !w is only one step.
- tucosan 11y ago
  Why not simply use quicksearch in Chrome/FF? Instead of having to go through ddg, I simply directly search wikipedia via `wp foo` or youtube via `y bar`.
  - contravariant 11y ago
    I use both, but the '!bang' syntax is more convenient when you simply want to repeat a search using a different search engine, or want to use an engine you don't have a quicksearch for (you could of course add them, but sometimes it's just not worth the trouble for the few times you need it).
  - r3bl 11y ago
    Because it won't work in every browser and making shortcuts the same across Firefox and Chrome is a hassle, plus you can never get up to thousands of shortcuts that DDG has. Sometimes, I'm just experimenting. I had no idea that DDG had a Flickr bang because I never had the need to use Flickr before, but I just added !f to my query and I got the results I was looking for.
  - sp332 11y ago
    DDG is my new-tab page, so that helps. Plus, if the wiki page is lacking, I can just go back and do a normal search or a Google search or a Stack Overflow search just by changing a couple characters at the end.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]