CFA/Search-Notes

« Comparative Feature Analyses

Purpose

Examine a bunch of browsers, existing Firefox Add-ons, and web services to generate a report that describes:

• Which capabilities each has (look at preferences panel for details about how search is customizable)
• A summary of where each is different/unique
• Some conclusions about which aspects seem most innovative and interesting that we might want to consider for Firefox

Research

General capabilities

The following will be done in a table with notes and observations following as footnotes.

• Support search engine shortcut keys (Ryan Flint) - FF3 P2
• Resizable search bar (Neil Deakin) - FF3 P2
• Rich search results (Gavin Sharp) - FF3 P3
• Ability to declare a default search engine - FF3 P3?
• Ability to use a temporary search engine and then restore the default (one time use) - FF3 P3?
• ability to manage, add, restore default, and reorder search plugins - FF2
• ability to add search plugins - FF2
• highlight notification of ability to add search plugin - FF2
• support for multiple search boxes - FF2?
• combine bookmark keywords and bookmark search - FF2?
• offer suggestions to autocomplete searches - FF2
• ability to browse by name from address bar (keyword.URL)
• information on mouseover of buttons
• site-specific search using search box
• multi-engine search
• google calculator suggestions in search box - FF
• keywords (search from location bar)
• highlight, right-click, and search
• drag and drop search
• search on webpage
• Search this Page - highlight search text on webpage
• Search this Page - match case of search text on webpage
• Search this Page - search for text when i start typing
• Search Engines - automatically check for updates to search engines
• Search Results - show recent searches/search history
• Search Bar - highlight entire search field when clicking in the box
• Search Results - search results in new tab vs. this tab
• writing direction in search and location bar - safari
• Search this Page - dim background on search w/in webpage - safari
• Search Bar - SnapBack - safari
• Search Results - preview search results - safari
• Search Bar - button to clear search field - safari
• Search this Page - match whole word only on search w/in page - opera
• Address Bar - web searches in address field w/ keywords - opera
• Search Bar - search this site - camino
• Search Results - show matching favorites when searching - flock
• Search this Page - option to search in current window, local files, internet, web cache - iCab
• Search this Page - option to search 2 search engines at once - iCab
• Search this Page - search and replace - omniweb
• Search this Page - search for regular expressions - omniweb
• Search this Page - find in all tabs - shiira
• Address Bar - customize address bar search - maxthon
• Address Bar - URL alias - maxthon
• user profile to save search and other settings
• Search Bar - wrap up feature for search engines, to search all at once
• Search Bar - targeted search options: audio/video podcast, photo, code, technorati searches
• Search Engines - local search engines on default
• Address Bar - autocomplete keywords

categories: UI Search Engines address bar search bar search results search this page

http://www.flock.com/node/8489#_comment

• Pause/Resume - Same session
• Pause/Resume - Across sessions
• Pause/Resume - Auto-pause downloads on network failure
• Pause/Resume - Auto-resume downloads on network reconnect
• Download History - View
• Download History - Sort (alpha, date, type, size, etc)
• Download History - Edit (clear one, selected, all)
• Download History - Autoexpire items
• Protocols - FTP
• Protocols - Torrent
• Protocols - Other
• Download Queues - Create/manage new queues
• Download Queues - Create/manage multiple queues
• Download Queues - Start/pause/resume/stop/cancel downloading
• Download Queues - Schedule downloading
• Download Queues - Save/restore queues
• Download Speed - Throttling
• Download Speed - Acceleration
• Download linked file
• Download selected linked files
• Download all linked files
• Download Manager - View
• Download Manager - Auto-close/Hide
• Download Manager - View/go to file
• Download Manager - Open file
• Download Manager - Move/Manipulate files
• Download Manager - Mark file as a favourite
• Download Manager - Tag/group/categorize/organize files
• Download Manager - Search
• Download Manager - Advanced search
• Download Manager - Default download directory
• Download Manager - Customizable download directory
• Download Manager - Multiple customizable download directories
• Download Manager - Smart download directories
• Accessibility Features (y/n?)
• Anti-virus integration
• Download Prefs (list per browser, not in table)
• Download Manager screenshots (one per browser, not in table)

Browsers to investigate

• Firefox 2 - done
• Camino - done
• Flock - done
• iCab - done
• IE 7 - meh
• Maxthon 2
• Netscape - meh
• OmniWeb - k
• Opera - done
• Safari - done
• SeaMonkey - meh
• Shiira - ok

Firefox Add-ons to investigate

• CustomizeGoogle link
• Answers link
• GooglePreview link
• LinkedIn Companion link
• SearchWith link
• DictionarySearch link
• Groowe Search Toolbar link
• Loki link
• OpenSearchFox link

Safari: http://pimpmysafari.com/plugins/?c=Searching

• Sogudi - shortcut keyword searches
• Saft link
• Insquisitor link - rich search results, autocomplete, search suggestions

References

• Download Manager notes