OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

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_Dexter_
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OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by _Dexter_ »

Volunteers needed to keep it going forward.

Updates will no longer be done | OptimizeGoogle
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RenegadeX
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by RenegadeX »

This thread needs a bump. It's a great shame that extensions such as this are being abandoned.
I warned years ago that the constant updates to Firefox that "broke" extensions that individuals had spent dozens if not hundreds of hours on would be very thing that led to Firefox falling out of favour. Google has abandoned their toolbar for Firefox, and now this Google-improving extension, itself a continuation of a similar previously-abandoned extension called 'CustomizeGoogle', is broken and at a dead end.

For the last few weeks I'd been wondering why some things in Google weren't working as they used to ("more search tools" on the left side of the page wouldn't expand, double favicons on some pages of Results, Google Toolbar's AutoFill function broken and possibly more) - and today after a few seconds of troubleshooting found all of the above was caused by OptimizeGoogle.

Please, if anyone who's good at coding is willing to help save this extension, contact the author here
Nagle
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Joined: September 20th, 2011, 12:04 pm

Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by Nagle »

We're working on that, via our SearchRater add-on. That's currently in the AMO queue ("Queue Position: 147 of 271") , and does some of the functions of OptimizeGoogle. It's a completely new code base, 100% Jetpack. Over time, we'll add more functions from OptimizeGoogle and the earlier CustomizeGoogle.

SearchRater is not as dependent on the exact format of Google's output as the old OptimizeGoogle and CustomizeGoogle were, so it will be easier to keep it up to date. Our previous AdRater has been automatically adapting to the changes in Google ad formats for years. SearchRater also works for Bing, Blekko, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo.

What would you consider the top 5 functions of OptimizeGoogle? Let us know in this forum, so we can prioritize. Thanks.

John Nagle / SiteTruth
raywood
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Joined: July 24th, 2005, 7:35 pm

Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by raywood »

Top five functions of OptimizeGoogle:

1. Filter list - shrink & gray-out bad search results

That's it. The other things are nice, but I haven't needed them.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by patrickjdempsey »

This list is probably not needed if you are using a custom shell and just displaying Google results, but:

1. Reset Image Search to go directly to the image and to always display image information.

2. Ability to permanently sticky Google preferences.

3. Disable all kinds of Google tracking.

4. Alternative search engines listed at the top. This list had actually gotten quite out-of-date and needed more current engines.

But actually the Optimize Google folks appear to have gotten back in the game and have a new version up compatible to Firefox 10. I'm going to have to take it for a spin!
Tip of the day: If it has "toolbar" in the name, it's crap.
What my avatar is about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Hmmm... tried the latest version and it looks like only a few features work but most of the important ones are broken.
Tip of the day: If it has "toolbar" in the name, it's crap.
What my avatar is about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/
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RNiK
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by RNiK »

raywood wrote:1. Filter list - shrink & gray-out bad search result.

Google Hit Hider by Domain

patrickjdempsey wrote:This list is probably not needed if you are using a custom shell and just displaying Google results, but:

1. Reset Image Search to go directly to the image and to always display image information.

2. Ability to permanently sticky Google preferences.

3. Disable all kinds of Google tracking.

4. Alternative search engines listed at the top. This list had actually gotten quite out-of-date and needed more current engines.

1. Google Images direct links

2. DUNNO :P

3. http://userscripts.org/tags/tracking OR http://userscripts.org/tags/privacy OR Google Privacy (it works on Bing and Yahoo! too ;)).

4. Try This Search On
MondoWin ==> Italian site for information about MS Windows tweaking
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by patrickjdempsey »

I don't really muck about with userScripts much... I don't trust my ability to debug them so I tend to stay away from just throwing scripts into my browser if I can avoid it. ;) I used Optimize Google and Customize Google for years but all of the recent changes which upset me killed it. I've moved on to handling most of the appearance problems with userStyles and most of the functional problems with rerouting my urlbar and searchbar to modified addresses (which fortunately Google still supports).
Tip of the day: If it has "toolbar" in the name, it's crap.
What my avatar is about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/
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kgbme
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Re: OptimizeGoogle in limbo.

Post by kgbme »

RenegadeX wrote:It's a great shame that extensions such as this are being abandoned.

Please, if anyone who's good at coding is willing to help save this extension, contact the author here
Well, that's not gonna happen (any moar) since teh domain is 404 GONE (w/teh wind, meh)

P.S.
patrickjdempsey wrote:I don't really muck about with userScripts much...
& apparently somebody else thought so, too, heh! xD

Code: Select all

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+happened+to+userscripts.org
pls disregard my (previous) disillusioned ff => 4.x posts, tnx. I've embraced it; apologies.
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