Marcus Mattsson

I’m a huge fan of optimizing the way I use my computer, if I stumble upon a task I know I will be doing in the future (e.g. looking up opening hours for the local grocery store) I usually try to make this task easier. So I’ll write a couple of articles about what techniques I use to do these things, the first being Firefox search keywords, which I’ve talked about before.

Firefox has a built in function that lets you add keywords for search fields on websites by right-clicking them and pressing “Add a Keyword for this Search”. This makes it possible to make a search on a site by typing “<keyword> <search term>” in the address bar (e.g. “i die hard” searches IMDb for “die hard”). This obviously has a lot of possibilities, and it’s probably the one thing that saves me the most time on a day to day basis. I use the following keywords:

• Google
  A standard Google search. Type “g <search keyword>”.
• Keepvid
  Download video from sites like YouTube, Metacafe, etc. Type “d <video URL>”.
• Port Check
  Checks if a certain port is open. Type “p <port number>”.
• Google Maps
  Searches Google Maps. Type “gm <location>”.
• Google Maps – Directions From Home
  Search for a direction from your home. Change “blegdamsvej 78A, københavn ø, denmark” to your own address. Type “gmd <destination>”.
• Google Translate
  Type “gt <text or url>” to translate something from English.
• YouTube
  Search on YouTube. Type “y <search term>”.
• WikiPedia
  Search on WikiPedia. Type “w <search term>”.
• IMDb
  Search on IMDb. Type “i <search term>”.
• Kino
  Search on Kino.dk Type “k <search term>”.
• RottenTomatoes
  Search on Rotten Tomatoes. Type “rt <search term>”.
• Play.com
  Search on Play.com Type “p <search term>”.
• UrbanDictionary
  Search Urban Dictionary. Type “u <search term>”.
• Ordbogen
  Search on Ordbogen.com. Type “o <search term>”.
• Google Currency Converter
  Convert money to Danish Kroner. Type “dkk <amount and currency>” (e.g. “dkk 50 usd”).
• Google Currency Converter (USD)
  Convert from US Dollars to Danish Kroner. Type “usd <amount in US Dollars>”.
• Google Currency Converter (EURO)
  Convert from Euro to Danish Kroner. Type “euro <amount in Euro>”.
• Google Currency Converter (POUNDS)
  Convert from Pounds to Danish Kroner. Type “pounds <amount in Pounds>”.
• Dansk Wiki
  Search on the Danish WikiPedia. Type “dw <search term>”.
• Wiktionary
  Search on Wiktionary. Type “wi <search term>”.
• Amazon.co.uk
  Search on Amazon.co.uk. Type “a <search term>”.
• Filestube
• Search for files on Rapidshare. Type “f <search term>”.

You can follow these steps to import my keywords:

1. Right-click on my Search Keywords bookmarks file and choose “Save Link As…” Place the file somewhere on your computer.
2. In Firefox, from the Bookmarks menu, choose “Manage Bookmarks”.
3. From the Bookmarks Manager File menu, choose Import. Choose “Import Bookmarks from File.” Browse to and open the file you just saved.

The next article will be about Greasemonkey scripts.