I must do between 20 and 100 searches a day. Work-related. Fun-related. Everything-related. I’m tired of going to a web page to do my searches. I’m also tired of seeing a browser spawn and take up 70% of my desktop every time I get search results. The search results are just a pit stop. I usually move on very quickly.
How quickly I move in is testament to the quality and goodness of Google’s search results. It’s so good it’s utility. I want to use it and keep it out of my way. It’s a tool, not a destination. Like notepad or a command prompt, it’s always there. You can make a strong argument that search technology has gotten so good and become so pervasive that it now needs to fade into the background of how we work and just be at the ready when we need it – and not dominate our field of vision with search results.
That’s why I use google desktop in a “floating deskbar” mode. Removes extra first step – going to google.com
My trick is for XP users. I turn on the Active Desktop thing, and I embed a google searchbar down near the bottom of my desktop, JUST the area where you can type. When I get the search request put in, it’ll pop a browser of results. The rest of the time, it’s a thin rectangle behind everything else.
Doesn’t firefox address this (and a whole lot more)? The little Google window in the top right corner?
You guys are bringing up good points. I guess I’m more annoyed with results taking over than with the search step that launches it. I would love a side-bar/less intrusive kind of flow.
Sounds like a good apollo app…
mike chambers
Spotlight on OS X does a pretty good job of this, but only for your local system. Might be cool to see (or design) a similar Google/Yahoo menu bar item that is activated with a keystroke, and puts abbreviated results in a dropdown.
I do like the Spotlight idea, GIno Zahnd. I’ve not tried it very much. But having a search bar popping up in top of the screen or something, when pressing a button, would be nice. And then it would list hits underneath from different search-engines. Like Yahoo, Google, AllTheWeb, etc. Whichever you’d like.
If someone made a neat program like this, I would try it. I don’t like MSN Desktop Search or Google Desktop Search, it’s annoying. I would like something that’s invisible when you’re not using it.
Exactly. It’s a mouse gesture or key-combination away. It just comes up and I search, pick my result and go.
A friend of mine told me about this program, it works like Spotlight, or the iTunes search, in the way that you get the results when typing.
The program is running in the background, and when you press Ctrl-Space, you get the searchdialogue in the middle of the screen. There are certain types of shortcuts which can be learned, be sure to check out the website.. ->
http://colibri.leetspeak.org/