Open Bug 1488050 Opened 6 years ago Updated 3 years ago

add mechanism for having multiple search fields in toolbars

Categories

(Firefox :: Search, enhancement, P5)

enhancement

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: pabs3, Unassigned)

Details

Many years ago I was a user of the Galeon gecko-based browser, which had a feature called smart bookmarks. These provided a way to have more than one search field in the toolbars, each with a default URL that would be used when the field was empty. When Mozilla ended support for xulrunner and Galeon stopped being developed, I was able to workaround this missing feature by writing an XUL plugin that provided the same experience. Now that Mozilla is ending support for XUL, I have no way to get multiple search fields (with default URLs) in toolbars.

I can see a few possible ways to add this:

* search-based:
  * relax the single-instance restriction on search fields
  * add a way for search engines to have a default URL
  * add a way for users to create custom search engines
* bookmarks-based:
  * add a way for bookmarks with %s to have a default URL
  * add a way for bookmarks with %s to have a user interface
* WebExtension-based:
  * add a way for extensions to add html input fields with icons to toolbars

Some background URLs:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95934
http://www.xenomachina.com/2006/01/firefox-annoyances.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20120528171341/http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/serendipity/index.php?/archives/37-epiphany-browser-extensions.html
http://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2011/11/04/migrate-from-galeon-to-iceweasel-firefox/
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Priority: -- → P5
Another related bug:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=648398
Severity: normal → N/A
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