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> Firefox did away with the search bar a long time ago. For a while, it was possible to bring it back through about:config The search bar still exists in Firef

> Firefox did away with the search bar a long time ago. For a while, it was possible to bring it back through about:config The search bar still exists in Firefox if you want it to btw. I use it daily.

klyrs 5y ago
My mistake, I meant to say url bar. Last time I tried this, the url bar had all the functionality of the search bar, which misses the point. Am I remembering wrong?
- wartijn_ 5y ago
  The settings screen has the option "show search in address bar results". You can turn that off.
  - gnabgib 5y ago
    It's the perfect setup really, you can turn it off, but if you want it you can type "? <search term>" into the address bar and it'll go to default search - or use one of your engine short codes as the first word "@google hackernews" about:config -> keyword.enabled -> false (to stop sending possible search terms automatically to your default search engine, this includes when you type a URL firefox mistakes for a search term) about:config -> browser.fixup.alternate.enabled -> false (to stop firefox trying a DNS lookup/connection with the term you typed with www. before, .com after)
    - klyrs 5y ago
      This is something... but it isn't perfect. The address bar is still not purely an address bar. It still defaults to sending a query to a search engine (I like to use this to search for partial URL matches, for example, navigating git repos that I use frequently). That's what the search bar is for. Bah humbug. Even with all these options set, FF still encourages confusion between URLs and searching.
      - gnabgib 5y ago
        I'm not sure I understand.. there's an internal search (tabs, history, bookmarks) which sounds like what you're doing - there's no search engine used for this. Or do you mean the Search suggestions (Settings -> Search -> uncheck "Provide search suggestions" to disable, some of these suggestions are FF generated)
hk1337 5y ago
Interesting. I didn't know you could add the search bar but when you do, the address bar still says "Search with <your default search> or enter address".
- tharkun__ 5y ago
  Also see sibling. I use Firefox daily and I have both a search bar that I use when I really want to search and I also don't see any "Search" stuff in my address bar. When I type "n" I can hit enter because it finds news.ycombinator.com in my history. All the next results are other things from my history which have an n in it. I have browser.urlbar.showSearchSuggestionsFirst=false

klyrs 5y ago

My mistake, I meant to say url bar. Last time I tried this, the url bar had all the functionality of the search bar, which misses the point. Am I remembering wrong?

wartijn_ 5y ago
The settings screen has the option "show search in address bar results". You can turn that off.
- gnabgib 5y ago
  It's the perfect setup really, you can turn it off, but if you want it you can type "? <search term>" into the address bar and it'll go to default search - or use one of your engine short codes as the first word "@google hackernews" about:config -> keyword.enabled -> false (to stop sending possible search terms automatically to your default search engine, this includes when you type a URL firefox mistakes for a search term) about:config -> browser.fixup.alternate.enabled -> false (to stop firefox trying a DNS lookup/connection with the term you typed with www. before, .com after)
  - klyrs 5y ago
    This is something... but it isn't perfect. The address bar is still not purely an address bar. It still defaults to sending a query to a search engine (I like to use this to search for partial URL matches, for example, navigating git repos that I use frequently). That's what the search bar is for. Bah humbug. Even with all these options set, FF still encourages confusion between URLs and searching.
    - gnabgib 5y ago
      I'm not sure I understand.. there's an internal search (tabs, history, bookmarks) which sounds like what you're doing - there's no search engine used for this. Or do you mean the Search suggestions (Settings -> Search -> uncheck "Provide search suggestions" to disable, some of these suggestions are FF generated)

hk1337 5y ago

Interesting. I didn't know you could add the search bar but when you do, the address bar still says "Search with <your default search> or enter address".

tharkun__ 5y ago
Also see sibling. I use Firefox daily and I have both a search bar that I use when I really want to search and I also don't see any "Search" stuff in my address bar. When I type "n" I can hit enter because it finds news.ycombinator.com in my history. All the next results are other things from my history which have an n in it. I have browser.urlbar.showSearchSuggestionsFirst=false