4 ms·

I don't even want my browser to support searching from the browser UI. If I want to send information to Google I'll visit their web page directly. I don't want

by mrob 2y ago

I don't even want my browser to support searching from the browser UI. If I want to send information to Google I'll visit their web page directly. I don't want to do it by a misclick. It's surprisingly difficult to disable searching from the browser UI in Firefox. Firefox insists you have at least one search engine enabled at all times. The best option I know of is to set the undocumented setting "browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh" to "true" in about:config, which enables an "Add" button in the Search preferences for adding custom search engines. You can then add a fake search engine on localhost that will always fail, and set this to be the only enabled search engine.

lagniappe 2y ago
>You can then add a fake search engine on localhost that will always fail, and set this to be the only enabled search engine. YES! My friend, you have found my holy grail, thank you
crtasm 2y ago
I achieved this by turning off a handful of config options for the address bar's suggestions; setting the search input to be separate from the address bar, and hiding it via Customize Toolbar. I think these were the most important: keyword.enabled browser.fixup.alternate.enabled browser.urlbar.suggest.searches
- mrob 2y ago
  For many versions now, removing the separate search bar via Customize Toolbar reverts to combined URL bar and search bar. It also leaves the search option in the right-click menu.
  - crtasm 2y ago
    That may be the case, but typing into my address bar does not trigger or suggest searches. Good point about the right click.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    Oooh! That explains why I haven't been able to disable that stuff from the omnibar. I hate the omnibar -- I just want text entered there to be interpreted as a URL and nothing else -- but at some point, I wasn't able to configure it to be that anymore. If this is why, you've just made Firefox better for me! Thank you!
autoexec 2y ago
There are a bunch of about:config changes you can make to prevent searching from the address bar. I follow that up by going through and just deleting nearly every string with a URL in it.
elaborate4013 2y ago
Are you talking about the address bar search? Just disable keywords in about:config then.
int_19h 2y ago
FWIW in Vivaldi you can completely disable search from address field in settings and then remove the search field from the toolbar.

by mrob 2y ago

lagniappe 2y ago

>You can then add a fake search engine on localhost that will always fail, and set this to be the only enabled search engine. YES! My friend, you have found my holy grail, thank you

crtasm 2y ago

I achieved this by turning off a handful of config options for the address bar's suggestions; setting the search input to be separate from the address bar, and hiding it via Customize Toolbar. I think these were the most important: keyword.enabled browser.fixup.alternate.enabled browser.urlbar.suggest.searches

mrob 2y ago
For many versions now, removing the separate search bar via Customize Toolbar reverts to combined URL bar and search bar. It also leaves the search option in the right-click menu.
- crtasm 2y ago
  That may be the case, but typing into my address bar does not trigger or suggest searches. Good point about the right click.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  Oooh! That explains why I haven't been able to disable that stuff from the omnibar. I hate the omnibar -- I just want text entered there to be interpreted as a URL and nothing else -- but at some point, I wasn't able to configure it to be that anymore. If this is why, you've just made Firefox better for me! Thank you!

autoexec 2y ago

There are a bunch of about:config changes you can make to prevent searching from the address bar. I follow that up by going through and just deleting nearly every string with a URL in it.

elaborate4013 2y ago

Are you talking about the address bar search? Just disable keywords in about:config then.

int_19h 2y ago

FWIW in Vivaldi you can completely disable search from address field in settings and then remove the search field from the toolbar.