Browse by Name

This (actually a similar feature) has been one of the top features of the firefox browser that I have come to love. And now Google is bringing it to the IE world. Browse by name. So what is it really? And what's the big fuss about it that I'm taking time to blog about it? (I am supposed to be on hiatus...). If you decided to to finish reading my blog first before following my outside links, then here' s the thing about browse by name...

Browse by name is a functionality that's added to your IE browser when you install the Latest Gooogle Toolbar. If you don't know what the Google Toolbar is, you must have been under hibernation my friend and you're missing a lot, but I forgive you. Go here. If you don't know what Google is, then kudos to your Translator, for making you understand my blog despite the fact that you are not from Planet Earth. oseir08hondsfwehr093hfdsnf0892hfnf0h0fsdnf... got that?

Okay. Browse by name lets you type just words instead of complete URL's in your IE browser's addressbar, and Google will take you to the page where you want to go based on the word(s) you typed. If google is not sure about where you really want to go, it displays a google search of the word(s) you typed. For example, typing friendster (yes i know, my example sucks) will take you to the friendster homepage. On the other hand, typing vibester will take you to a search result of the keyword vibester. The burden of deciding whether to search or to take you directly to a page (and to which page) depends solely on Google's algorithm and the company has officially stated that no marketing force affects it. Although similar to the I'm feeling lucky feature, Browse by Name is different because as I have mentioned, there are two possible scenarios that can happen when you do a Browse by Name while only one sure thing happens for I'm feeling lucky (which always takes you directly to the actual web page of the number 1 search result). This is what makes Browse by Name better than Firefox's own version(which is actually just an implementation of the I'm feeling lucky feature of Google). Sometimes, the top result is not always the page that you want, so in this case hopefully Google gives you the search results rather than take you directly to the page. I have no doubt in the merits of the feature-I think it's a step forward in making the Web more relevant and easier to the user. The question now would be: will people discover it? and if yes, will they use it?

Update: Do you feel that Browse by Name is better than Firefox's default Im Feeling Lucky keyword service? Here's how to change the firefox settings to use the Browse by Name service:

1. go to about:config of firefox (type about:config in Firerfox's address bar then hit enter)
   
2. in the filter text field of the about:config page type keyword.to show all keyword-related preferences
3. select keyword.URL from the list, right click on it and select modify from the context menu
4. you will be prompted to Enter string value. Enter the string:
   http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
5. That's it. You're Done. Happy Browsing-by-name!