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Big Search

Handily use / switch any one or multiple (uninterruptedly) search engines (or search any websites).

Friendly to novices, satisfying to experts. For daily, entertainment & work.

Includes basic features that a multi-engine web search tool should have:

• Built-in Google,DuckDuckGo,Youtube,eBay,Github etc
• GET/POST
• Custom engines

and so on. <ins><u>Besides above basic features, it can also✨: </u></ins>

• 🖋️ Single-line or multi-line text
• ⌨️ Every search step can be done by just keyboard, without mouse. It's UI has built-in Vimium-like feature. Keys can quickly call different search engines (details)
• 🖥️ Desktop (browser extension / web app) and mobile (web app)
• 🔎 Even works with websites that don't provide GET/POST interface (so-called In-page-Ajax-render websites) (see FAQ below)
• 🔎 Do many operations at once by one button. Cross-engine search calling
• 💪 User JSON programatical advanced customization (GUI easy editing also). Great flexibility in engine data & search method (details)

and so on... Go on for readme

<p align="center"> Search everywhere 🗺️ for everything 👨‍💻. Breadth & Focus.<br> </p> <details> <summary><b>Table of Contents</b></summary> <!--ts-->

• Start to Install & Use
• Basic Screenshots, Demo, Video
• Features
  • Basic
  • More
  • Even more: What's special about it
  • Vem feature (built-in Vimium-like)
  • Safety & Privacy
• FAQ * Q: What is "In-page-Ajax-render" ?
• List of engines
• Similar tools & methods comparison
• How to edit search engines (GUI or JSON)
  • Examples
    • Short Format
    • Full Format
  • Specification of Editing Engines Data and Special Search Methods
    • Specifications
    • Instructions for searching In-page-Ajax-render websites
• For Developers

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Start to Install & Use

Ways to use:

1. Browser extension (recommended)

   • Firefox Addon
   • Chrome Addon or download .crx. For: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera etc.

2. Web App : For demo purpose. Web app can't function fully like extension. Web app can be used on mobile browsers.

Basic Screenshots, Demo, Video

| Use Extension | Breadth & Focus | UI style choosable |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | Context selection search | Different UI adaptions | Vem (Vimium-like) | | | | | | Edit search engines | Special search methods, flexibility & extensibility | | | | | |

Video of full introduction & instructions (Youtube) (choose the chapter you want to watch)

Features

Basic

• 🔎 Use any search engines or inquery websites (multiple uninterruptedly) from one UI. Any that support GET/POST. (60+ built-in)
• 🔎 User custom search engine (details) (syncronizable in extension)
• 🔎 Use browser-installed search engines (browser extension, so can directly use those you've added into browser, Firefox only)

More

• 🖋️ Single-line or multi-line text input & send

  Useful when e.g. want to translate article

• 🗂️ Search engines categorization
• 📋 Save (locally), reuse and manage search history (won't save when in incognito mode). Reusing method: double-click behavior
  • In single-line edit: replace input box text
  • In multi-line edit: insert to cursor
• 🖱️ Quickly use selected text (single-line or multi-line) as search term

  • No in Firefox incognito mode (bug 1380812)

• ⌨️ Configurable keyboard shortcuts. Default keys (may need changing manually):
  • Open popup. Firefox: Ctrl+Alt+S Chrome & others:Ctrl+Shift+S
  • Set selected text as search term. Firefox: Ctrl+Alt+D Chrome & others:Ctrl+Shift+D

  change on Firefox | change on Chrome: chrome://extensions/shortcuts

• 🖥️ UI adapted multiply: Desktop (browser extension or web app) and mobile (web app only). Extention can show UI in: toolbar button popup UI, standalond tab, or sidebar (browser native)

Even more: What's special about it

• ⌨️ Vem feature: Built-in Vimium-like feature. You can use keys to quickly call different search engines (details)
• 🔎 Even works with websites that don't provide GET/POST interface (so-called In-page-Ajax-render websites) (details)
• 🔎 Do many operations at once by one button
• ✨ Good-looking, powerful & lightweight (details)
• 💪 User JSON programatical advanced customization (GUI easy editing also). Both built-in & user-defined search engines data use same format (details). Great flexibility in engine data & search method:
  • 🔲 Multiple buttons for one engine: more than one operations for one engine. (Buttons inherit data from engine. Some key-value data ​​in button can override the ones in engine name)
  • 📞 Cross-engine use: Call another engine (or it's certain button action) to do the action
  • 🔏 String-formatting or character-replacing user's input, according to engine's need. And, charset specifying.
  • 🔎 Combining above two to search websites that don't provide search

Vem feature (built-in Vimium-like)

If you've used shortcut keys like!bang (by DuckDuckGo) or omnibox, they require you to memorize codes.

While, Big Search's Vem mode visually gives you convinience & ability to use keyboard to (uninterruptedly) click different search engines' different buttons. Press Shift+Enter to enter Vem mode

| Key | Function | | --- | --- | | Shift+Enter | Finish input and enter Vem mode (used when not in Vem mode) | | Shift+Enter | Opposite to above (used when in Vem mode) | | I | Quit Vem mode and focus inputbox | | 1 - 9 | Switch catagory (in Vem mode) | | A - Z | Press corresponding button (in Vem mode) | | J & K | Scroll table down/up (in Vem mode) | | more to be added ... | |

Note if new engines added, button sequence may change, so as button key (A - Z).

Safety & Privacy

• 🛡️ No injection to web (except when searching In-page-Ajax-render websites)
• 🛡️ Client side functions and includes data fully. No necessary 3rd-party server. Completely no collecting user data
• 🛡️ User custom engine GUI editor is used online (to shrink extension size). If you want extreme security, you can choose to disable communication between them, and use manual edit.

FAQ

Q: What is "In-page-Ajax-render" ?

A:

General GET/POST search flow is:

1. You input search term and click search button
2. Your browser loads the search term into a GET/POST query then sends it to target URL you specify
3. Your browser opens a new tab and loads the HTML responded by the target website

Big Search's In-page-Ajax-