Google Search has always been using a minimalistic design. While this serves several purposes like offering distraction free web searching and fast loading times it does fall a bit short for some users who prefer to access additional information right in the search interface.
Google Fx is a Greasemonkey Script which means it works in all compatible web browsers like Firefox. The script will turn the minimalistic Google Search pages into an information powerhouse by adding information and features. Visitors will immediately notice the changes in the Google Search interface. Icons have been added to the top header of the page and the Google Suggest feature is available on all search forms automatically. Google Suggest displays related search terms in a menu below the original search term even if the user is still typing into the form.
The real changes and benefits of Google Fx become only visible on the Google Search results page. The header has been expanded to contain direct links to various other search engines like Yahoo, Ask or Wikipedia which is excellent for research. There is even the possibility to perform the search on all of the 12 search engines that are listed at the same time. It does contain links to various Google Services that are not listed in the default Search interface like a direct access to Translate.
The top right contains links to filter the search results by time or to search only in title, text, url or links. Everything is immediately clickable to provide fast access to the desired information. The Google search results have been spiced up as well. A thumbnail will be displayed for each search result that is giving users a visual impression of the listed websites. The usual features like accessing the cached version of the search result are still available.
The script will display the first 50 search results at once and add new entries at the bottom of the list once the user scrolls down to the end. Google Fx is an excellent Greasemonkey script for users who use Google on a regular basis and prefer to have access to additional information right on the search pages.
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Hmmm. Sounds like something that would be very useful for me.
I’m going to try it out.
Thanks, Martin.
Well, I can’t get it to work in my portable ff.
Perhaps you know of a similar tool that is a firefox extension?
Martin,
Thanks for this wonderful serendipity..
Very cool but too much clutter for my tastes. Still, I gotta give some serious props to anyone who writes almost 8,000 lines of code for a greasemonkey script.