Learn how to easily add a Firefox search engine add-on for your web site. Even add a custom icon.

The book publisher O'Reilly has a great article on how to write your own Firefox search engine add-on. There are a lot of details there that you don't need to know if your site doesn't have its own search or you just want to rely on Google to provide the results, though. In this post I'll explain how to quickly create a customized copy of the Google search engine add-on that comes with Firefox so that it returns results limited to one particular site of your choosing. I'll show how to do it manually and then I give you a link to a page where you can fill in some information and have the file generated for you - complete with custom icon. Then I'll explain how to install the new search engine.

Option 1: Manually customize the default Google search

Download the sample file. Change the text in the title, description and search parameters areas to values appropriate to your site. To be more specific, change the lines:

<ShortName>YourSite</ShortName>
<Description>YourSite Search</Description>
<Param name="q" value="site%3Ayoursite.com+{searchTerms}"/>

<ShortName>MySite</ShortName>
<Description>MySite Search</Description>
<Param name="q" value="site%3Amysite.com+{searchTerms}"/>

Give the file a name fitting for your site and with the .xml the file extension. For example, name the file mysite.xml or something similar.

Option 2: Fill in some info and have the file generated for you

I have written a script that you can use to generate the correct search engine add-on file for you. All you have to do is fill in some fields and click 'Create'. You can even provide an image file to have a custom icon created for you.

Installing the search engine add-on

The following instructions assume that your copy of Firefox is in a standard location. If it's not you will need figure out where it is installed and updated the instructions appropriately.

First, copy the XML file you created above to your Firefox searchplugins directory:

On Windows: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins

On Mac OS X: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins

Second, restart Firefox. Your new custom search engine add-on should appear in the search engine list next to the search field.

I just published the first release of a new web site for Arudela & Co. You can find brief information and a thumbnail of the site on my portfolio page.

The new site uses a new portfolio style design that I created. The site itself is custom built using the Kohana PHP framework. While the site is not built using a full blown content management system, it has many of the features of a CMS. A later version of the site will feature an online store, private photo galleries and more javascript animations and enhancements.

My iMac died this weekend. I put it to sleep and then went to dinner. When I came back it was off and wouldn’t do anything. I searched the web for information on diagnosing the problem and tried a few of the suggestions. Finally, I determined that it must be a hardware failure and that it was probably the power supply.

For a number of different reasons (none of them particularly good), I never got around to backing up most of the data on the computer. Since this computer is my main development computer there is information that I need on it to do my work. I decided I would try pulling the drive and then installing it in an external enclosure so I would have access to the data while the computer was in the shop. After a little more searching on the web I determined that probably wasn’t a good idea. Apparently the newer iMacs with iSight like mine have special magnetic shield films, tape, and gums that need to come off when you open the back. The wiring is also easy to dislodge, especially the wires for the iSight. A lot of people advised against opening the new iMacs even for those with years of twiddling with hardware. I quickly determined that pulling the drive probably wasn’t worth the risk.

So, on Sunday I drove into town and took my iMac to the Apple Store. I asked the guy there whether the newer iMacs were any better for servicing yourself. He said they were worse. Except for the memory slots, the internals are vaccuum sealed to prevent dust from getting in. I could see how this would be good, but then I’ve run computers for many years and they’ve run perfectly fine even when coated in dust inside.

I really don’t like the way these new computers are unservicable. I want to have control over who can fix my computers and with what components. I decided Sunday that if there were one key thing that would prevent me from buying another Mac it would be this issue.

Today I was looking on eBay for used iMacs. I’d read this weekend that some people have taken the guts of their malfunctioning iMacs and placed them in new cases, so I thought that might be an option in the future for “constructing” my own Mac. Then I noticed someone selling new “hackintosh” computers for $300. These are complete systems except for the keyboard/mouse/screen and operating system. Since I just spent $100+ for a Leopard family pack, I already have extra Leopard licenses. This is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a Mac and then having to worry about getting Apple to service it when it goes bad. It also would make a good backup if my iMac were to die again. I already bought a new harddrive to make sure the data is backed up, I don’t have a backup Mac yet, though…