Firefox does not offer options to exclude specific websites from the search in the awesome bar. Some users might want to have the functionality to hide websites from being displayed in the awesome bar either because of users sharing a Firefox profile on the same computer system, hiding some urls from prying eyes that might walk by or to exclude websites that should not be found that way.

The Firefox add-on Not Awesome adds the option to exclude websites from the awesome bar’s search. It does so by filtering out websites that have been bookmarked and tagged with notawesome. Every bookmark with that tag will not be included during searches in the Firefox awesome bar.

The easiest way to add these tags is to open the Firefox bookmarks and edit the websites in there. Another option becomes available when adding new bookmarks.

The add-on adds a checkbox to hide the bookmark from awesome bar searches in the add bookmarks dialog. Not Awesome is an experimental Firefox add-on that is available at the official Mozilla Firefox website.

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This does work pretty well in conjunction with the Cybersearch add-on by Ryan from Cybernetnews that displays search results on a white background. All in all you got three or four background colors instead of just one which is great for distinguishing results on the first glance.

The easiest way to install this style is by installing the Stylish add-on first and then that new user style.

The colors of the style can be easily changed if you edit the style in the extension’s options. Just right-click on the icon of the add-on and select Manage Styles. Then select the user style and click on Edit to edit it.

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I had some complaints however. The major one was that Amazon Search was included when using the add-on which was pretty useless to me and that there was not a way to add other search engines, say Wikipedia, Yahoo Search or even from my own website to the add-on.

Ryan from Cybernetnews seemed to have similar thoughts when he reviewed the add-on after finding it on my website. He went a step ahead however and wrote his own version of it that provides all the features that I missed in the original extension.

Cybersearch is the name of the add-on. It basically makes it possible to define keywords for searches that are then displayed directly in the Firefox 3 location bar. It comes installed with a few defined ones like Google and Wikipedia but it is not a problem to change the existing ones or add new keyword searches.

It is furthermore possible to add searches that search multiple websites at once. Ryan added Lifehacker, Download Squad and his website to the keyword techy. I feel a bit bad that he did not add my site as well. Ryan if you hear that please add my site to it ;)

To perform a search one would simply write “techy keyword” in the location bar, say “techy firefox 3″ for results about firefox 3 on those three websites. It’s not a problem to add another site manually to it though.

The system is pretty flexible but makes use of (only) Google services from what I can tell. Sites like Wikipedia are searched using Google instead of the site search. If my vote would count for a change I would say that Ryan should at least add the two other major search engines (Yahoo and Life) to it. I prefer to have multiple options there.

The “Enable Keywords” box has to be checked after installing the Firefox 3 add-on before keyword searches can be performed. Wonderful add-on, pretty stable for a first release as well. Well done Ryan.

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The Stylish script Url dropdown on one row (hide Title) removes the title from the results and effectively halves the screen estate that is being used by the box in Firefox 3. The Stylish add-on has to be installed before the script can be installed to the system. T

After the add-on has been installed the script can be saved from its userstyles page. It will become available immediately and can be tested right away by typing a phrase into the location bar.

But beware. That script can cause some confusion if you are not used to identify websites by looking at their urls. This is not always possible of course but mostly it is. The add-on is not that useful if you have installed the Searchery add-on as well which displays search results in the menu as well which is extremely hard to identify without page titles.

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A fix meaning a configuration setting that would allow them to disable the inclusion of bookmarks in the list that is shown in the location bar. These users can now rejoice again because the Hide Unvisited Firefox extension hides bookmarks from being shown in that list. To be precise, bookmarks are not shown unless they are also part of the history which would include them obviously in the list.

The Firefox add-on is compatible to Firefox 3 final and can be downloaded from the official Mozilla website.

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Now there is always a group that prefers the old ways simply because they are used to it. Talk to your parents or other elderly people and you will notice that they believe that many things have been better in the past and turned to the worse in later years.

I was able to identify two main points of criticism. The first is the mix of bookmarks and history items that are displayed when typing in words in the location bar. Some users do not want their bookmarks to appear in that list. The second complaint is the results window that opens when results are found in the location bar. Many users think it’s to big and ugly.

Here are some comments from users about the new location bar:

I just downloaded the beta and started using version 3, and this new bar is the worst implementation imaginable of what might actually be a reasonable idea. (I would have to see a good implementation before I can decide on that last part.)

I type in “ne”, and it sorts “slashdot-NEws for NErds”, and “groklaw.NEt”, and a few other things, BEFORE “NEws.google.com”.

If I WANTED slashdot, I would have typed “sl”. If I WANTED groklaw, I would have typed “gr”.

Do the people who design these things even type at all when they use the browser, or do just they think they are helping out old people who don’t know how to use a mouse with fancy icons?????

That AWFULBAR is so unbelievably bad – this add on at least makes it look better; but the algorithm and arrogance of the developers made me revert back to FF2. I may dump Firefox altogether. I know that some people will like the new bar, but totally outrageous to stick it on everyone. There will be MANY MANY people who would otherwise use FF that will swear off it now – there will be many embarassing moments as this algorithm BOLDLY displays unexpected results/history in public/group presentations, family situations, etc. Mark my words – this new feature will be the single most important event in the downfall of Firefox/Mozilla.

It is possible to make the Firefox 3 location bar look more like the old location bar of Firefox 2 which would at least remove the second complaint. The oldbar add-on changes the style of it to resemble the old location bar. It still uses the Firefox 3 algorithm to search through bookmarks and history.

There does not seem to be a preference for now that makes it possible to disable the bookmarks from being included in the search when entering characters in the location bar.

Do you like the new location bar or do you prefer the old one ? Let me know.

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