[Ext] Context Search 0.4.3

[lifeboat]

"Holding CTRL will cause the tab to load in the Foreground"

This is annoying as it requires me to use more than my hand on the mouse.

The best solution to this problem would be to enable you to configure what
CLICK, CTRL-CLICK, and SHIFT-CLICK do. Or you could make loading the tab in the foreground to be the default action.

I currently use NeedleSearch so I can do context searches without using more than my hand on the mouse. NeedleSearch is a bit more complicated to use than I would like, but its default action is to load the tab in the foreground. Actually, it loads the search into the current window which is my favorite way of handling searches.

Eric

[BenBasson]

Context Highlight 0.1 and Context Search 0.2 are listed as FF 1.0 compatible on update.mozilla.org, but when I try to install them, Firefox says they aren't compatible.

This should be working now.

The best solution to this problem would be to enable you to configure what
CLICK, CTRL-CLICK, and SHIFT-CLICK do. Or you could make loading the tab in the foreground to be the default action.

I'll add in preferences for these things and probably middle-click support.

[PogusMagnus]

Good work, Cusser. Great extension.

I have a small request tho'. Is it possible to add a preference, which would alter the appearance like this:

<img src="http://www.elsinore.de/temp/Context Menu.gif">

I am rather clumsy and I have great problems navigating the sub-menu, especially on a notebook with touchpad. It would be a great relief for me and probably for others too.

Please, please, please...

[BenBasson]

I have a small request tho'. Is it possible to add a preference, which would alter the appearance like this

Yep. I'll add it to my "to do" list.

[tanstaafl_bh]

I would *love* to see Thunderbird support added for this extension... I am always doing web searches on text in email bodies, and I really don't want to install Conquery just for that...

Cusser? Any chance of this? Would be happy to send you a small token of my appreciation if you let me know where to send it...

Thanks for a great extension - I couldn't live without it in FF...

Charles

[BenBasson]

I'll think about it, but it will basically depend on Thunderbird's ability to access Firefox's search plugins.

[scragz]

This only occurred to me just now after I uninstalled some Mycroft plugins and Google isn't on the top of the list anymore. Would it be possible to make clicking on the unexpanded menu item do the default Google search, i.e. clicking on 'Search Web for "pickle"'?

On a related note, is there any way to change the order of the plugins?

[matt me]

if you've managed to uninstall (though you really mean remove) some plug-ins, you should find re-ordering them simple enough. they're listed in alphabetical order according to the file names in your /firefox/searchplugins directory, so just rename the .src files (and their icons) so that the plugins are in the order you want.

the default search-engine can be set in about:config with the following preference - browser.search.defaultenginename

[scragz]

if you've managed to uninstall (though you really mean remove) some plug-ins, you should find re-ordering them simple enough. they're listed in alphabetical order according to the file names in your /firefox/searchplugins directory, so just rename the .src files (and their icons) so that the plugins are in the order you want.

Thanks. It's just weird because they weren't in alphabetical order before, so I wasn't sure. And uninstall is exactly what I meant.

the default search-engine can be set in about:config with the following preference - browser.search.defaultenginename

It seems that this extension overrides the use of that in the context menu though. It would be like one line of XUL and maybe another line of JS to add in a click event for the parent menu item.

[matt me]

The default search-engine still appears first in context search's list, so it's not that much further to go.

Though I agree it might be handy to make the default search engine easier to get to, I don't think changing primary click on the expand menu would work. It would be inconsistent with other expanding menus and confuse too many users.

The term "uninstall" implies the removal of registry keys etc probably with a specific uninstaller program. But to remove a searchplugin you simply just have to delete the file. You wouldn't ever say you were uninstalling a .jpg would you?

[scragz]

The default search-engine still appears first in context search's list, so it's not that much further to go.

It doesn't appear first. IMDB is first for me and that is definitely not my default.

Though I agree it might be handy to make the default search engine easier to get to, I don't think changing primary click on the expand menu would work. It would be inconsistent with other expanding menus and confuse too many users.

That's a good point about consistency. Hmmm ... It just seems natural because I've clicked on that menu item so many times in the past.

* * *

Off-topicness begins here.

The term "uninstall" implies the removal of registry keys etc probably with a specific uninstaller program. But to remove a searchplugin you simply just have to delete the file. You wouldn't ever say you were uninstalling a .jpg would you?

You're linking to WPs entry for "Uninstaller". For something that has tons of files to remove for the whole thing to be considered uninstalled, then you might need one of those, but lots of programs don't even use the registry (I'm on Debian anyway, so that's moot) and some programs consist of a single file. If I were uninstalling wget, I would just need to `rm ~/bin/wget` and I would be considered to be uninstalling it.

You don't normally say that you "uninstall a jpeg", yet it would be technically correct. In this case however, I think that that is misleading because we're talking about plugins. If you were uninstalling the Flash plugin you would just be removing two files as well and that sounds correct.

Basically, everything's a file, and "remove" and "uninstall" are really synonyms. It seems that uninstall is used for applications (executable files) and remove is used for normal files, but it's really up to the speaker to determine which they want to use.

[matt me]

Ah, I've just gone through the browser.search preferences in about:config - I'd got them mixed up, now it makes sense.

browser.search.defaultenginename - this is obselete if you are using context search. however out the box it would be the "search x for selection"
browser.search.defaulturl - this is the url for the "search x for selection" search that firefox uses. obselete with context menu.

however, back to ordering search plugins. they are in alphabetical order of the .src files unless you have browser.search.order.1 and browser.search.order.2 set. i have browser.search.order.1 set to google and browser.search.order.2 set to yahoo

***

True. You win this time :)

[BenBasson]

I think I tried to make the "Search Web for" part clickable previously but failed for some reason... as mentioned above, it's a consistency issue, so I decided against it. I can always make it a non-default option if you want that behaviour, though.

I'll definitely look into some form of manually reordering the items within the list, but I can't be sure whether it'll make the next release or not. It sounds like a lot of work (not necessarily back-end, but adding UI to work with this isn't going to be pleasant).

[matt me]

My vote for next version - middle click support.

Hopefully in Firefox 1.1 you will be able to remove (or uninstall) searchplugins from within Firefox (using shift-delete in the menu or something), and maybe you'll be able to re-order them too.

[dubzero]

I just wanted to say thanks to Cusser for the extension and to put in my vote for the plugins to be visible on the main context menu. Maybe not all of them, but say the top five. Then have a sub-menu for the rest or all of them.

Also, thanks to matt me for explaining how to re-order them. As this method is so simple, I don't think an options GUI is needed. It would be a nice touch along with configuration for left/middle click actions, though.

I use it constantly just the way it is, so if you don't change anything I'm still going to be happy.

Thanks, Mike