GoogleResultsWalker Firefox addon
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Dev snapshot
Verified 100% clean.
Description
This Firefox addon enables fast navigation of google results, while still retaining the google "feel". Navigate the results using the mousewheel, and mouse over a result to display it in a window to the right. Try it, it's fast and fun!
Documentation
When you search using google, the results page will be changed as follows.
- The results on the lefthand side will be placed in a scrollable container. Google results are 48 "small" characters wide. The container will be sized to hold the results exactly as google provides them.
- A second container is placed in the remaining space on the right. Hover over a result link with the mouse and it will be displayed in the righthand container.
There are two checkboxes in the bar above the results: [ ] Preview [ ] Hover
- Turn off Preview to remove the Google Results Walker preview window, and restore the results as they were.
- Turn off Hover to disable hovering. To view a preview, click the "Preview" link at the end of the result block.
Markup buttons will be provided to allow you to "tag" important results with a color, or remove uninteresting results. The markup is temporary - if you refresh the page, you will start with the original unmarked results again.
Use a high resolution (1024x768 or higher) to really get the most out of this addon. If you run at a very high resolution of 1600x1200 or higher, you will most likely be able to see the full result page. Good times!
Status
Personally, I need this addon, and I'll be maintaining it into the foreseeable future. But I've decided to try a digital-economy experiment: my development on the addon will be strictly dictated by donations. If you're the first to donate $5 and you want a flashing hot pink border, I'll give it my best shot. Fly me, I'm yours. Updated daily.
| Request | Donation |
|---|---|
| Allow preferences to be saved | $20 |
| Prevent result from taking over entire window | (may not be permitted by Firefox) |
| Improve initial size/resize of results container | |
| Provide buttons to zoom in/out results | |
| Add Options to split preview into 1, 2 or 4 panes and each roll over puts the preview in the next pane |
| Click here to join in. There will be a "Request" field at the end of the process. Tell me your bidding. |
Send gripes, hellos, patches, death threats, love letters to: resultswalker@gmail.com
Addon Compatibility
I've tried this with the following addons, with pretty good success. Let me know if there's something specific that doesn't work for you.
- GooglePreview - Seems compatible, even though we're both mucking with the same results. In fact, the two add-ons seem to complement each other pretty well. The preview thumbnail is small and can be out of date, but it gives you a quick visual cue. Then, for the real deal, you can pull up a live preview. Note that unlike GooglePreview, Google Results Walker doesn't know anything about your searches (it doesn't need to). But I wouldn't worry, GooglePreview's privacy policy is reassuring. Recommended.
- NoSquint - Improves Firefox's text resizing ("zooming"). Makes a great companion for Google Results Walker. Zooming out on the page is a great way to make the preview fit better. Without this addon, Firefox 3.0.1 forces a text size reset when you load a new preview. I may try to get Google Results Walker to prevent this silly resize, but until I do, there's NoSquint. I recommend setting the zoom to 100% after you install, instead of the default 120%.
- CustomizeGoogle - Be careful, this add-on includes a "stream results" option that pulls down more than the first page of search results. I typically ask google for 100 results, and with this option on, I was pulling down thousands of results at a time. Before long, google was suspecting spyware involvement, and I had to answer some captchas to get to results. I recommend this add-on with "stream results" turned off.
- Fasterfox - This add-on includes link prefetching (controversial topic!) that makes for even faster mouseovers (and massive bandwidth usage!). Has this fallen out of favor? If I was connected to the backbone, I'd probably be all about combining this one into the mix. Let me know about your experiences.
- Surf Canyon - similar goals - need to test compatibility, check features, etc.
- Better Search - similar goals - need to test compatibility, check features, etc.
- The usual popular ones (Adblock Plus, ColorfulTabs, TabMixPlus, Greasemonkey, etc.) seem fine.
Changelog
0.5.7 09/17/2008
| Request | Donation |
|---|---|
| Handle font size change | Handled by NoSquint addon, see compatibility notes |
| Make Preview window resizable | Just turn off preview to get it out of the way. |
- Added results markup, allowing results to be marked with a color or entirely removed from the results list (until the next search).
- Added preview link at end of each result. You can now toggle off hovering and decide when you want a preview.
0.5.6 09/07/2008
| Request | Donation |
|---|---|
| If browsing in preview window you can get far away from the original google result. Create a way to open the current preview window in a new tab, window, current tab, etc. | Just right-click in frame and use the frame menu. |
| Toggle on/off addon (big button linked to a preference?) |
- Added preview toggle. The add-on will now get nicely out of your way whenever you like.
- Hovering is properly disabled when preview is toggled off.
0.5.5 09/05/2008
| Request | Donation |
|---|---|
| Toggle on/off mouseover with a big lightswitch | $5 |
- Updated icon, description.
- Added subtle highlight to hovered results.
- Added hover toggle.
- Added Dan, Gary to contributors.
- Determined that CustomizeGoogle "stream search results" with 100 results will quickly get you banned by Google! Proceed with caution...
0.5.4 09/02/2008
- fixed default "no results" page
- reduced size of javascript
0.5.3 09/01/2008
- updated to skip table#nav in height calc if it doesn't exist (before it would error out)
- removed "get lucky" autoload until I can prevent iframe from taking over window
0.5.2 09/01/2008
- iframe resized on window resize
0.5.1 08/30/2008
- two-columns, sized correctly on first view (but not on window resize)
0.0.1 2008
- originally named "google unsucked", not very nice
ancient past 01/14/2004
- Birth: the original (currently broken) perl webscrape version was called GoogleFramed