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Searching The Internet
Overview
With the amount of information you can find on the Internet growing larger and larger everyday, search engines have become an increasingly important tool to help you find what you're looking for. As such, both operating systems offer built-in methods to search the Internet.
Mac OS X
OS X provides multiple built-in methods for searching the Internet:
- Google search in Safari
- RSS feed search in Safari
- Dashboard widgets
- Sherlock
- Services menu
Google Search in Safari
Apple's Safari web browser includes a built-in search field to search the Internet with Google.
The Google search field is located to the right of the address field. Unfortunately, Safari treats the address bar and the search field as the same "object," so removing one removes the other. As such, you cannot remove just the search field, which is a rather poor design.
Search Google within Safari
The Google search box remembers your last 10 searches (accessible from the drop-down menu of the magnifying glass), and sports a SnapBack button so that you can easily jump back to your results page after browsing.
RSS Feed Search in Safari
When viewing an RSS feed inline in Safari (available by clicking the 
icon in the Address bar), an additional search field appears in the RSS sidebar on the right. From this search field, you can search the content from within that feed. Search results are displayed as-you-type. You can save your custom RSS search as a bookmark to view later via the "Actions" area at the bottom of the RSS sidebar.
Search RSS feeds in Safari
In addition, Safari's RSS search can cross multiple feeds simultaneously. If you have a folder of RSS bookmarks, you can view and search through all those feeds at the same time. All articles from all feeds will display in the same window, and performing a search will search all feeds.
Dashboard Widget searching
OS X can also search the Internet using Dashboard to display widgets, or "mini" applications. Apple bundles many Dashboard widgets that let you search for and display all kinds of Internet-releated content:
- Google search engine listings
- Yellow/white pages with directions via Map Quest
- Stocks
- Sports scores and news via ESPN
- Weather
- Airlines
Click the Dashboard icon (left) located in your dock to access dashboard. Alternatively, you can hit a function key (F12 by default), or set the Dashboard to a mouse button or screen corner. When invoked, the desktop will dim, and all open widgets will appear. Hit the function key again (or click anywhere on the screen), and you'll be brought back to the desktop. You can add widgets to your desktop by clicking the Plus button in the lower left corner — the entire desktop will slide up to reveal all Dashboard widgets you have installed on your system. Simply drag and drop widgets onto your desktop to use them. To remove a widget, click its close button.
Click "Widgets" to bring up a Widget Manager that lets you uninstall widgets from your system
Widgets are small enough to leave floating on your screen, which is useful if you access a particular widget frequently. Certain widgets (stocks, for instance) will refresh automatically on a timed interval.
Developers can extend Dashboard's basic functionality by creating their own widgets. For example, the BatteryInfo widget in the above screenshot is a third-party widget; it displays alongside Apple's included widgets.
Sherlock Internet searching
Sherlock is an extensible application that consists of different "channels" for searching the Internet. Apple supplies the following Sherlock channels:
- AppleCare: Search the AppleCare knowledgebase for articles about Apple products
- eBay: Search auction listing
- Flights: Find out when flights are scheduled to arrive
- Internet: Search the Internet through multiple search engines
- Movies: Look up movies times for theatres in your area
- Stocks: Track your favorite stocks
Services Menu searching
From within any application, highlight the text you would like to search for, then select Services > Search with Google from the Application menu. This will launch your default web browser and take you to Google's search results for your selected text.
Windows XP
XP has three different methods for searching the Internet:
- Explorer's sidebar
- Explorer's address bar
- MSN Toolbar suite (free download)
Explorer's Sidebar search
Click on the Search button, and you are presented with Explorer's default search. You can add search terms, or use natural language to ask a question. Results are shown on the right side using MSN Search as the default search engine (although you can change it to Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, etc. if you'd like). If the sidebar recognizes what you are searching for, it will present additional options to help narrow down your search. For example, type the following question...
...and Explorer will present the following tasks, along with search results in the right pane (not pictured).
After clicking "Find weather forecasts, reports and news," the sidebar asks:
Type a city, and weather forecasts will from Weather Underground will display. There are a few additional choices of websites you can visit instead, if you prefer.
Explorer's Address Bar search
Explorer has the ability to perform searches from its address bar. Simply type a phrase into the address bar rather than a location, and MSN Search will display results for that phrase.
You can also search in the address bar via user-defined shortcuts. For instance, you can set up a shortcut that performs a Google search when "g" is added in front of the search phrase. Then, simply type "g Windows XP" to perform a Google search for the phrase "Windows XP." Shortcuts can be created either by using the TweakUI PowerToy for Windows XP (a free download), or by editing the Registry manually. This ability extends to all instances of the Explorer address bar, meaning that you can initiate a search like this not only from an Internet Explorer window, but a Windows Explorer window as well (and the address bar in the Windows taskbar, if you have it enabled).
MSN Toolbar Suite search
By downloading MSN Toolbar Suite 2.0, you are given many additional options for searching the Internet.
Using the MSN toolbar in Internet Explorer, you can enter any search term and it will display the results from MSN Search within the same window. By pressing the highlight button, every search term highlights in a different color, enabling you to quickly scan the results page and see where each search term in mentioned. As this will highlight any search terms on the page, you can use this with Internet Explorer's built-in search to highlight the page, or just simply show the search term in any page you navigated to. Highlighting options are further extended by pressing the viewer button on the MSN toolbar, which opens up a window showing a thumbnail of the entire results page. Your currently viewed part is shown in a red outline on the viewer. If you click and drag that red box, the normal page will scroll with you; alternatively, if you scroll the page normally, the red box moves along the thumbnail. This is quite useful when used in conjunction with highlighting.
The Deskbar gives you another way to search. When you type in a search term and the results window pops up, you can click the "Web" button to perform your search on the Internet rather than within your local files.
Double-clicking the WDS icon in the system tray will open up a full search - you can also search the Internet directly from here.
Conclusion
OS X provides a multitude of ways to search the Internet. Dashboard widgets' settings are saved between logins and reboots, so after initially setting up a widget, users simply need to invoke the Dashboard to pull in all the latest information. A Google search widget is included with Dashboard so that you can search the Internet at any time (third-party widgets let you use a different search engine, if you prefer). Safari's built-in Google search (and OS X's included option in the Services menu) is convenient, although you cannot choose a different search engine to use.
While XP's "wizard" model of asking the user questions to perform a search may be helpful for new users, advanced users may find this frustrating (although they can choose not to search like this). MSN Toolbar Suite is essentially an easier way to initiate an MSN search, with a nifty highlighting feature added. One nice aspect of XP's searching methods is that in many instances, you can quickly jump back and forth between local and Internet searches (such as within the MSN deskbar).
Mac OS X: 8
Windows XP: 5 (7)
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