Oolite Bulletins

JazHaz wrote:

Does anyone know how to use the plugins for Chrome? Try as I might, I can't work out how to do a search.

Hi mate.. I've finally got this sussed.. Sorry it took so long. (big relocation, finally settled in now)

Here's what you have to do.

Firstly, if you haven't done so yet, using Chrome, go to the page where my plugin is located. (Also linked to in my original post at the top of the thread.)

(If you have already installed the plugin but can't get it to work, scroll down to the section titled "Editing an already installed plugin:" for instructions on changing the search keyword, then follow the usage instructions.)

Click on the link that says "Oolite Bulletin Board", you can choose the google or yahoo version. (or even both) A small popup will appear, with 3 fields in it. Leave the Name and URL fields alone, but change the keyword from "google.com" or "search.yahoo.com" to any keyword you like. I'd suggest "oolite". Click on "OK" and the plugin will now be added to your search plugins. Unfortunately, the plugin-builder won't allow me to choose the keyword myself, otherwise I'd have updated them already. (if you do install both plugins, be sure to use different keywords for each)




USAGE:
Now, to use it, you can make it the default search if you want, via the settings, but that's a pain for regular use. This is where the keyword comes in. Type the keyword into the Chrome address bar, followed by a space. As soon as you press the space-bar, the address bar will change from this:



to this:



and all you have to do is type in your search term(s) and hit the "Enter" key.


Editing an already installed plugin:

Click on the "Customise" button, (the funny thing with 3 horizontal lines) and then click on "Settings"



Click on "Manage search engines"



Click on the "google.com" or "search.yahoo.com" keyword, as the case may be, and change it to "oolite" instead. Hit the "Enter" key.



You're now good to go, as described above, under "USAGE".

Wot.. still not stickied? How about it, mods?

Diziet Sma wrote:

Wot.. still not stickied? How about it, mods?

Oh, OK...

Thank you, good sir..

Ahh, it's nice to be back.. I've missed this place.

Diziet Sma wrote:

Ahh, it's nice to be back.. I've missed this place.

Good to see you back...it's been quiet

Welcome back Diziet Sma

Diziet Sma wrote:

Thank you, good sir..

Ahh, it's nice to be back.. I've missed this place.

Must be the week of comebacks - I've been away for 7 months.

Glad to see you back - loving the new Avatar - by the way.

Thanks guys!

Thanks Dizzy. It was indeed the keyword that I needed to change to get the Oolite BB search working on Chrome. All works now, like a dream. Before now whenever I wanted to search the BB I would have to change the default search engine manually, which was a bit of a pain. Now I'm pain-free!

A question, Diz - what would I need to add to that search criteria to specify a certain person's post?
That's the only advantage the forum search function has.

Good question.. I don't think there's a good solution, however..

Some playing with "author=El Viejo" (not in quotes) plus the search term(s) seems to yield fair results though.. although it will also include anyone who has quoted the author. YMMV. If you test it, I'd be interested to learn how effective -or otherwise- you find it.

Thanks, Diz - some experimentation with that does help a little. I'll play around with it some more later.

Since Safari 5.x does Inquisitor not work without bugs on Safari. For Safari 5.0 and newer I now use the Safari extension "CustomSearch". This can be found by just selecting "Safari Extensions... under the Safari menu.

After installing the extension you see following menu:



Here you can set some general preferences. When activated, it adds a button in the menu bar:



When you press the search button you get one of the following responses. (Depending on the settings.)

For all safari versions



Only for Safari 5.1 and newer:



Several sites are already pre defined. To add Oolite, just select 'Customize' in the above menu and you will enter the page with definitions. It will look like this:



You see I already filled everything in. I copied the settings from the Wikipedia search and just replaced the site.

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:aegidian.org%2Fbb #TEXT#

In the settings you can set the title, if it should get its own button in the menu etc. You can also choose to add it to the contextual menu for very fast selection.

More info at the site of the author.

Thanks Eric. Much appreciated. I've linked to your write-up in the original post.

I resurrect this thread in order to say: thanks, Diziet Sma, for the information on the Google search plugin.