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From the article: "In an interview on Wednesday, [Gabriel] Weinberg said it is difficult to make his DuckDuckGo the default search site in Google's Chrome web

From the article: "In an interview on Wednesday, [Gabriel] Weinberg said it is difficult to make his DuckDuckGo the default search site in Google's Chrome web browser, and that Google disadvantages his company in the Android mobile operating system as well. .... "It's one-click to get onto Firefox and it's five steps on Chrome and people generally fail," he said. The Google spokeswoman said popular search alternatives were offered on its Chrome browser in a dropdown menu, such as Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing, but any search engine could be easily added."

MichaelApproved 14y ago
What's the qualification for a "popular search alternative" ? Is there a specific level of market share that's required before a SE can be included in that list?
d0m 14y ago
Which is totally true. Also, if one has already searched on DuckDuckGo, it's even easier to switch to it as it has been added to the search engine list.
noibl 14y ago
Wait, 'one-click'? In Firefox if I click the dropdown on the search field, then click 'Manage Search Engines' I get a dialog in which can be found a link to 'Get more search engines...'. Clicking that opens an add-ons store tab with the 'Search Tools' filter applied, none of whose above-the-fold suggestions has anything to do with DDG. That's not one-click, it's a runaround. In contrast, Chrome automatically adds search engines as you browse the web and lets you set any one of them as the default. It also has clearly labelled fields to let you create your own by copying the format of the ones listed. Getting to there takes 3 clicks and a scroll. Two reasonable gripes: the existence of the free-edit fields is not immediately obvious upon clicking 'Manage search engines...' and neither is the fact that the domain name in the second column is an editable keyword.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- delackner 14y ago
  Click-and-hold on the firefox search engine icon in the search field, and a list of engines appears. I clearly see "Add DuckDuckGo" as an option in that list while I am on the site, and you can slide the mouse over to that option and release. So yes, one click.
  - noibl 14y ago
    Thanks, now I get it. Having a UI cue when you're on the DDG website is a good idea.
  - eric-hu 14y ago
    I don't think this is available in Firefox for OS X, there's 2 icons in the search field and neither one responds to click-and-hold
    - rangibaby 14y ago
      Just click on the Google "G" (or whatever you have as your default search engine) when you are at the site and "Add DuckDuckGo" shows up as an option.
- gnufied 14y ago
  I am not supporting DuckDuckgo's claim, but the procees is indeed less painful if you just install their extension, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-fo... I don't know why no such addon exists for Chrome? EDIT: Ugh I am woefully wrong, the Chrome extension only shows up when you visit the site from Chrome. Perhaps they mean choosing a default search engine in Chrome is not as straightforward as Firefox. You will have to open preferences -> Search -> Manage Search engines and then change the default engine.
  - drivingmenuts 14y ago
rodion_89 14y ago
I'm curious, how many clicks is it to replace Bing as the default in IE? Isn't it impossible for DDG to become the default in Safari? Not saying they're wrong to point it out, but rather that they should be consistent in pointing fingers if they do.
- srathi 14y ago
  I couldn't agree more. It is a pain to set Google as default search provider in IE.
- WrkInProgress 14y ago
  Fired up IE9 to take a look. One click on the search icon in the address bar and Bing and Ask.com (really?) are listed as two default search providers. There is an Add button which takes me to an Internet Explorer Add-On page. DDG and Google are highlighted as popular options. Click on the "tile" and another click to install. So 4 clicks for IE9. It's 4 clicks in Chrome (Menu - Settings - Settings - Manage Search Providers, to get to the "Manage Search Engines" screen but DDG is nowhere to be found. YOu have to manually add it and it isn't very clear how to do it because the textbox is truncated for the actual url.
  - itp 14y ago
    but DDG is nowhere to be found. YOu have to manually add it and it isn't very clear how to do it because the textbox is truncated for the actual url. Unless you visit duckduckgo.com once, at which point it's added to the list of "other search engines" on that page. Which seems like a totally reasonable way to manage that list, since otherwise Google is responsible for pre-populating and maintaining a comprehensive list of all other search engines out there. (This behavior was tested on Chrome 24, and I verified it by deleting the record for DuckDuckGo from my "other search engine" list, then visiting duckduckgo.com and reloading the list.)
  - tiglionabbit 14y ago
    DDG was in my list. Apparently it picks up options as you browse?
- 14y ago
bdonlan 14y ago
I counted three clicks on Chrome: 1. Right-click on search bar when on duckduckgo.com 2. Click edit search engines 3. Next to DuckDuckGo (it's autodetected the first time you visit the site), click 'make default'. It's more clicks than firefox if you do it via the extension, but google's stance on blocking third-party extensions by default makes sense when you consider the threat of malicious extensions, and how most people don't read the permissions prompt.
- amitamb 14y ago
  Search Provider is not an extension it is just a setting in your browser so I am not buying the argument that is is for security purposes. Also, these three steps are not intuitive i.e. you can't ask user to click a button on your website to initiate the change. While on Firefox, clicking on a button, a prompt gets shown to make your search engine default one. Even in case of Firefox, user has to explicitly click on check-box to make your search engine default. Try here http://www.verticalset.com/ http://www.verticalset.com/
elssar 14y ago
I don't know what he is talking about. I have my search engine settings page open and there are more than 20 different search engines listed that I can make default with one click, including Duck Duck Go! I like the idea and philosophy behind Duck Duck Go, but maybe improving the search results, which are no where near as good as Google's results, would help bring more traffic than whining about non-issues.
yegg 14y ago
If anyone is curious where this comes from, I wrote extensively about the usability issues with adding search engines to browsers here: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/02/usability-issues-with-adding-search-engines-to-web-browsers.html http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/02/usability-issues...

MichaelApproved 14y ago

What's the qualification for a "popular search alternative" ? Is there a specific level of market share that's required before a SE can be included in that list?

d0m 14y ago

Which is totally true. Also, if one has already searched on DuckDuckGo, it's even easier to switch to it as it has been added to the search engine list.

noibl 14y ago

Wait, 'one-click'? In Firefox if I click the dropdown on the search field, then click 'Manage Search Engines' I get a dialog in which can be found a link to 'Get more search engines...'. Clicking that opens an add-ons store tab with the 'Search Tools' filter applied, none of whose above-the-fold suggestions has anything to do with DDG. That's not one-click, it's a runaround. In contrast, Chrome automatically adds search engines as you browse the web and lets you set any one of them as the default. It also has clearly labelled fields to let you create your own by copying the format of the ones listed. Getting to there takes 3 clicks and a scroll. Two reasonable gripes: the existence of the free-edit fields is not immediately obvious upon clicking 'Manage search engines...' and neither is the fact that the domain name in the second column is an editable keyword.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
delackner 14y ago
Click-and-hold on the firefox search engine icon in the search field, and a list of engines appears. I clearly see "Add DuckDuckGo" as an option in that list while I am on the site, and you can slide the mouse over to that option and release. So yes, one click.
- noibl 14y ago
  Thanks, now I get it. Having a UI cue when you're on the DDG website is a good idea.
- eric-hu 14y ago
  I don't think this is available in Firefox for OS X, there's 2 icons in the search field and neither one responds to click-and-hold
  - rangibaby 14y ago
    Just click on the Google "G" (or whatever you have as your default search engine) when you are at the site and "Add DuckDuckGo" shows up as an option.
gnufied 14y ago
I am not supporting DuckDuckgo's claim, but the procees is indeed less painful if you just install their extension, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-fo... I don't know why no such addon exists for Chrome? EDIT: Ugh I am woefully wrong, the Chrome extension only shows up when you visit the site from Chrome. Perhaps they mean choosing a default search engine in Chrome is not as straightforward as Firefox. You will have to open preferences -> Search -> Manage Search engines and then change the default engine.
- drivingmenuts 14y ago

rodion_89 14y ago

I'm curious, how many clicks is it to replace Bing as the default in IE? Isn't it impossible for DDG to become the default in Safari? Not saying they're wrong to point it out, but rather that they should be consistent in pointing fingers if they do.

srathi 14y ago
I couldn't agree more. It is a pain to set Google as default search provider in IE.
WrkInProgress 14y ago
Fired up IE9 to take a look. One click on the search icon in the address bar and Bing and Ask.com (really?) are listed as two default search providers. There is an Add button which takes me to an Internet Explorer Add-On page. DDG and Google are highlighted as popular options. Click on the "tile" and another click to install. So 4 clicks for IE9. It's 4 clicks in Chrome (Menu - Settings - Settings - Manage Search Providers, to get to the "Manage Search Engines" screen but DDG is nowhere to be found. YOu have to manually add it and it isn't very clear how to do it because the textbox is truncated for the actual url.
- itp 14y ago
  but DDG is nowhere to be found. YOu have to manually add it and it isn't very clear how to do it because the textbox is truncated for the actual url. Unless you visit duckduckgo.com once, at which point it's added to the list of "other search engines" on that page. Which seems like a totally reasonable way to manage that list, since otherwise Google is responsible for pre-populating and maintaining a comprehensive list of all other search engines out there. (This behavior was tested on Chrome 24, and I verified it by deleting the record for DuckDuckGo from my "other search engine" list, then visiting duckduckgo.com and reloading the list.)
- tiglionabbit 14y ago
  DDG was in my list. Apparently it picks up options as you browse?
14y ago

bdonlan 14y ago

I counted three clicks on Chrome: 1. Right-click on search bar when on duckduckgo.com 2. Click edit search engines 3. Next to DuckDuckGo (it's autodetected the first time you visit the site), click 'make default'. It's more clicks than firefox if you do it via the extension, but google's stance on blocking third-party extensions by default makes sense when you consider the threat of malicious extensions, and how most people don't read the permissions prompt.

amitamb 14y ago
Search Provider is not an extension it is just a setting in your browser so I am not buying the argument that is is for security purposes. Also, these three steps are not intuitive i.e. you can't ask user to click a button on your website to initiate the change. While on Firefox, clicking on a button, a prompt gets shown to make your search engine default one. Even in case of Firefox, user has to explicitly click on check-box to make your search engine default. Try here http://www.verticalset.com/ http://www.verticalset.com/

elssar 14y ago

I don't know what he is talking about. I have my search engine settings page open and there are more than 20 different search engines listed that I can make default with one click, including Duck Duck Go! I like the idea and philosophy behind Duck Duck Go, but maybe improving the search results, which are no where near as good as Google's results, would help bring more traffic than whining about non-issues.

yegg 14y ago

If anyone is curious where this comes from, I wrote extensively about the usability issues with adding search engines to browsers here: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/02/usability-issues-with-adding-search-engines-to-web-browsers.html http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/02/usability-issues...