Keyword search extension for Safari 5?

Until Snow Leopard and Safari 5, I loved Keywurl. But with Safari 5's new support for extensions, I've been hoping that a replacement would arrive. (Preferably one that doesn't need an InputManager hack to work.)

Is there a keyword search extension for Safari 5 yet? Is it even possible to do?

jkooker

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 1 347

See also the similar question for later versions of Safari: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/69164/is-there-an-extension-to-give-safari-the-same-multiple-search-engine-functionali

– yurkennis – 2014-07-03T04:45:21.803

Answers

Looking at a thread on MacRumors, it seems someone has created the closest thing using official Safari Extension API's. I'll try out KeySearch this weekend.

jkooker

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 1 347

KeySearch is okay, but its control-key mapping doesn't work in Safari for Windows. – jkooker – 2010-11-01T21:33:23.553

From Making Keywurl work with Safari 5

If you've just installed Safari 5 and are also a Keywurl user you may be getting an error regarding Keywurl when starting up Safari (Image 1). I've gotten around this by editing the Info.plist in the Keywurl bundle. Note, these steps are not guaranteed to not cause a problem. Follow at your own risk.

In a Finder window, go to /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

Right-Click Keywurl.bundle and click Show Package Contents

Right-Click on Info.plist and open it with TextEdit

Search for the String associated with the Key MaxBundleVersion

Edit this to match the version number of Safari 5, 6553.6

If Safari is open, you will need to quit completely and re-open.

Click to download: making-keywurl-work-with-safari-5-gzzCFrviBBmDrzkctdpk.zip

NEWS: It seems like a Snow Leopard version of Keywurl is now available from here.

harrymc

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 306 093

This is the same old InputManager hack, and seems to give mixed results. Sounds like the Safari Extension API doesn't give access to the address bar. – jkooker – 2010-11-01T21:31:31.883

It seems like a Snow Leopard version of Keywurl is now available for download. – harrymc – 2010-11-02T06:47:40.583

The way I do this is by using LaunchBar, as it has templates for the most popular search engines. So I end up typing:

Ctrl + Space: invoke LaunchBar
w to select Wikipedia
Space to enter text mode so I can type the query
Enter when I'm done the query

This will start up a new tab in Safari (or whatever default browser you use) doing the search. The advantage of this approach is that LaunchBar is good for many other things. The disadvantage may be the price, but that's up to you to decide.

QuickSilver also does this.

roguesys

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 2 640

Thanks for the tip! Actually I use Alfred as a LaunchBar alternative. In Alfred you can define custom web search engines even in free version.

– LoKi – 2014-02-08T11:04:07.290

There's another solution that seems to be gaining traction: Quix. It's bookmarklet-based, not an extension.

Haven't tried it yet.

jkooker

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 1 347

GlimmerBlocker works as a local proxy that can do keyword expansion straight from the location bar.

user479534

Posted 2010-10-02T16:22:21.017

Reputation: 3 271