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I know that the !bang list is extensive. I know that most of the time using the full name of the site will work. Thus, I can reasonably guess how to directly se

I know that the !bang list is extensive. I know that most of the time using the full name of the site will work. Thus, I can reasonably guess how to directly search a site that I may not have even been to in years... or ever been to. If I want to know how much Wal-Mart is selling Bounty paper towels for, I can type "bounty paper towels !walmart" and I know it will work even though I may never have searched Wal-Mart's site before. That's just one reason. Some more: A single search interface. The Firefox search box lets you pick multiple search engines, but then a different one is selected each time. For me, DDG is always selected. I can change my search target without retyping my query. I type my searches into Firefox's search box and I always type the !bang part at the end of the search. If I don't like the results at Amazon, I can go change "!amazon" to "!newegg" and quickly re-search another site. I also frequently use this to redirect failed mathematical queries to Google or Wolfram Alpha just by going and appending a "!g" or "!wa" on the search. As someone else mentioned, portability. I don't need to ever configure another search engine list as long as I live. My list on my work computer install of Firefox is always up-to-date with my mobile and with my home Chrome install. If I get a new computer or switch to a new browser, it's already ready to go. It updates itself. If a new site comes along (or I discover a site new to me), I'll have the search ready to go long before I ever thought to search it (or configure it) myself.

sp332 14y ago
I can change my search target without retyping my query. I agree with most of your post but this part doesn't seem like an advantage. If I have my own list of search engines in FF, I can just pick a new one from the drop-down without even typing the name of each engine.
- DanielStraight 14y ago
  Point taken, but as a counterpoint... if your list was as extensive as the DDG !bang list, finding the one you want would be a real pain.
icebraining 14y ago
To be fair, you don't need to click around with Firefox's search bar. If you create a bookmark with a keyword, then typing the keyword on the main bar loads the website, and if you put an %s somewhere in that bookmark's url, you can then use it much like a bang, e.g. newegg ATI HD4200 That said, I can perfectly understand why you don't want to waste the time to set them up if someone has already done it for you.
- DanielStraight 14y ago
  And then you can't re-target (or fix a typo) in the same query in the same place, since the address bar will be replaced with the address of the loaded site. That's why I use the separate search bar.

sp332 14y ago

I can change my search target without retyping my query. I agree with most of your post but this part doesn't seem like an advantage. If I have my own list of search engines in FF, I can just pick a new one from the drop-down without even typing the name of each engine.

DanielStraight 14y ago
Point taken, but as a counterpoint... if your list was as extensive as the DDG !bang list, finding the one you want would be a real pain.

icebraining 14y ago

To be fair, you don't need to click around with Firefox's search bar. If you create a bookmark with a keyword, then typing the keyword on the main bar loads the website, and if you put an %s somewhere in that bookmark's url, you can then use it much like a bang, e.g. newegg ATI HD4200 That said, I can perfectly understand why you don't want to waste the time to set them up if someone has already done it for you.

DanielStraight 14y ago
And then you can't re-target (or fix a typo) in the same query in the same place, since the address bar will be replaced with the address of the loaded site. That's why I use the separate search bar.