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Show HN: Allsearch – Making it easier to use different search engines seamlessly
Allsearch is a tool I made after getting fed up with Google's search results and reading up on conversations on HN about the state of search on the internet.
This is a tool I made as a spiritual successor to GnodSearch (https://www.gnod.com/search/ https://www.gnod.com/search/), which I've seen in a couple conversations about search on HN. GnodSearch is great, but a bit barebones in terms of looks and functionality; Allsearch is my attempt to build off of it.
Similar to Gnod, Allsearch allows you to apply any given search query to a search engine of your choice (either through only keystrokes, or via mouse). However, it also allows you to add your own engines to its catalogue, and allows you to define macros to use multiple engines simultaneously (useful for easily comparing engines).
It's not feature complete; there are still some things I'd like to add in. There are way more engines I want to add to it's default catalogue, and I also want to add in the ability to export your settings to allow people to easily share their Allsesarch configurations.
Curious about people's thoughts on it :)
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- lionkor 4y agoCool idea! FYI in DuckDuckGo, you can use !g for google !b for bing !y for yahoo !w for wikipedia !r for reddit and a few thousand more, covering pretty much any larger search engine, wiki, or reference: https://duckduckgo.com/bang https://duckduckgo.com/bang
- radonek 4y agoOpera browser had this feature since dawn of time and some others copied it.
- WiggleGuy 4y agoYeah. I've been thinking of implementing something similar to DDG's !bangs or Firefox's keywords, but at the same time I don't want to make a tool that's just a worse version of those; I'm wondering what I can do to improve on those.
- guywithahat 4y agoDuckDuckGo has been getting caught in a bunch of censorship scandals recently, and unlike other search engines they're more likely to just blacklist a site in my experience. I'm not sure I would jump to use them first
- lionkor 4y agoSorry, you are misunderstanding. This is about using ddg as a sort of "meta search engine", to call other search engines from.
- karlzt 4y agoAlso Brave search has that same feature.
- Fnoord 4y agoYeah you can also use shortcuts within your browser, if you keep that feature enabled. Personally I find it easier to just do like I do with other URLs: enter the URL. But given people use Android and iOS apps which are (proprietary) frontends for websites powered by HTTP(S) client I am not surprised there's demand for this. Besides, DDG is usually hit for me, and if its not I refine my search first on DDG. If that wouldn't work (usually it does) I'd follow the same approach on Google.
- lionkor 4y ago> ... like I do with other URLs: enter the URL. Entering `en.cppreference.com`, waiting for it to load with my slow-ish internet, then typing `vector` into the search field, is WAY more time and effort than just typing `!cpp vector`, which leads me directly to the results I want.
- KIDSSEEGHOSTS 4y agoHi, I really like this site, how can I contact you, I have some questions like how to export the custom rules, thanks a lot.
- WiggleGuy 4y agohello [at] allsear [dot] ch
- 3np 4y ago> Curious about people's thoughts on it :) Where's the source code? Couldn't get it to work: A 429 from `https://api.pexels.com/v1/search?orientation=landscape&query=sealife&size=large&per_page=50 https://api.pexels.com/v1/search?orientation=landscape&query...` (why is that required?) seems to make he rest of the page noop.
- WiggleGuy 4y agoArg that probably means the API I used to get backgrounds ran into it's quota. It's strange that that causes the page to noop, in my tests the promise reflects gracefully. I'll look into that.
- 3np 4y agoI'm sure they'd appreciate it if you fronted it with a caching proxy of your own - might cut down the bills as well ;)
- ColinHayhurst 4y agoAs advocates of search diversity we applaud you. We implemented similar as Search Choice buttons. And as options below the search box, like allsear.ch, if you turn on Search Choice bar: https://blog.mojeek.com/2022/02/search-choices-enable-freedom-to-seek.html https://blog.mojeek.com/2022/02/search-choices-enable-freedo...
- closedloop129 4y agoHave a look at https://searchaggregate.com/ https://searchaggregate.com/ I wouldn't hide the list of search engines behind options. The macros are a good idea. Looking forward to when you allow people to share them. I would add one macro by default to allow an instant test.
- KIDSSEEGHOSTS 4y agoThis one is silky smooth, just not customizable
- kamban 4y agoSearchaggregate looks nice. I can easily switch engines depending on the search queries.
- KIDSSEEGHOSTS 4y agoIt can only add is one, not more. https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/firescript-577a2.appspot.com/o/imgs%2Fapp%2FYANDHI%2Fr9s0T2hUTc.png?alt=media&token=26c417b1-ecd2-48c0-896f-f82c3b30c65a https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/firescript-577a2...
- WiggleGuy 4y agoHm it should wrap around like a grid: I'll look into that!
- KIDSSEEGHOSTS 4y ago
- rco8786 4y agoThe return of Dogpile!
- rovr138 4y agoI wish it was a metasearch engine like dogpile. It just opens a new tab with the term you entered on the search engine you clicked. So type ‘test’, hit google and it just opens google with ‘test’.
- dothis 4y agoIs it really a downside that Gnod Search is barebones? I thought that is a conscious design decision. Personally, I prefer to quickly go through a simple page with an input box and search buttons than to go through a page with a background image and logos.
- WiggleGuy 4y agoWell the main reason I made Allsearch wasn't for the looks: I was just having fun there. The main reason was for the features that Gnod doesn't have, like the ability to add your your own engines or to define macros.
- guywithahat 4y agoSearx is another good option in regards to meta search engines, and you can self host it which is pretty neat https://github.com/searx/searx https://github.com/searx/searx
- hamdouni 4y agometacrawler resurection ;-) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaCrawler https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaCrawler
- weba11y 4y agoIt should probably do something when you type & hit the 'enter' key (even if its just a dialog asking what search engine you'd like to use). Or maybe I am missing something, as you said you it can used with just a keyboard. I'm on Chrome...
- WiggleGuy 4y agoYes: engines have shortcuts associated with them. So the shortcut for Google, for example, is g. If you type something in, press enter, then just press g, it will forward your search to Google. You can tell what shortcut an engine has by the underlined letter (or the letter in square brackets). I'll add in a prompt.
- msravi 4y agoOk, how does one use this? I type something and press <enter> and nothing happens. The "help" page is particularly unhelpful - it says "Activate search engines by clicking on them or using their shortcuts (indicated by underlined text or [])." Ok, clicking is fine, but how does one use the "shortcuts?" Edit: Oh, I see now. You've to type the search term, press <enter> (which sort-of puts it into a command mode) and then type the "shortcut" key. Problem was that my tridactyl extension was interfering with the shortcut command.
- WiggleGuy 4y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32512433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32512433 I definately have to make this more clear! Thanks for the feedback
- T3RMINATED 4y ago
- diimdeep 4y agoCompletely useless.
- vladsanchez 4y agoReminded me of Altavista.com :'(
- WiggleGuy 4y agoI added a new feature: Allsearch Rules. Similar to !bangs, it allows the user to define rules that will automatically launch certain macros or engines based on strings in your search. Rules also allow you to replace certain strings with other strings (so, for example, @r can be replaced with site:foo.com). Also added in the ability to import and export your Allsearch config.