Yahoo Search Engine Plugins

06 Oct 2004 · #techtalk

I think that in many ways, Yahoo’s search offering is better than that of Google. The relevancy of results is as good as Google’s and sometimes even better. The number of special searches that Yahoo provides is way more than Google. (Although I must admit - Google’s calculator still kicks ass!)

And now with the beta launch of Yahoo’s personalized search service, things are only getting better. I haven’t tried out A9 and My Jeeves yet because it involves a cumbersome sign in just to search stuff. But now I figure it this way - I am almost always logged into Yahoo Mail anyway. So why not utilize this always authenticated situation and take advantage of the extra functionality that personal searching provides?

Unfortunately, Firefox’s default install doesn’t come with a Yahoo Search engine to power the Search bar. And mycroft.mozdev.org has an outdated plugin. So I spent some time and made up some new engines for yahoo. Get them here.

You need to restart the browser before the changes take effect. Linux users may have to run Firefox/Mozilla as root before installing the plugins.

I haven’t tested them extensively. Please report any problems that arise; especially with Firefox PR1 and Mozilla’s Sidebar search.