On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 03:57:43PM +0000, Simon Hobson wrote:
> Safari also defaults to sending every URL you edit to Google (via Apple ?)
> - not just what you type, but the entire URL.

> It's also irritatingly stupid in that it will sometimes decide that your
> url doesn't look like a url and do a search or it will decide that your
> search term looks like a url and fail to load it.

No idea about Safari but in Firefox you can disable this misfeature with:
about:config keyword.enabled = false

> I'm of the school where if I type into a search box I expect it to search,
> and if I type in a url box I expect it to be treated as a url - and the
> two boxes are different things and should be separate.

The search box is a waste of screen real estate.

Make a bookmark with:
Location: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s
Keyword: g

then, typing into the URL bar "g goat porn" will search for "goat porn" on
Google.

Then you have:
Location: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s
Keyword: wp

Location: https://packages.qa.debian.org/%s
Keyword: pts

Location: https://bugs.debian.org/%s
Keyword: bts

... and so on. A really useful feature. Typing instead of clicking as you
have to put your hands on the keyboard to type the search phrase anyway.


--
A tit a day keeps the vet away.