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Location Bar not automatically going to pages

  • 1 reply
  • 47 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by TonyE

Zoomguy
Zoomguy
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I like Firefox 4, but a very important feature that I loved that was only even in Firefox was not to be found in 4.0 but it was in 3.

Firefox would automatically redirect me to pages that would often appear first in Google when I typed them in the location bar. For example, if I typed ps blog it would b=me to the PlayStation blog, if I typed gmail, it'd bring right to Gmail, ect. But not it's just searching for what I type. When I type gmail it will just bring up a google search of gmail.

I tried to see if changing some options in about:config but nothing worked so I reset what I changed.

Please help! I'm debating whether to go back to v. 3.6.16!

I like Firefox 4, but a very important feature that I loved that was only even in Firefox was not to be found in 4.0 but it was in 3. Firefox would automatically redirect me to pages that would often appear first in Google when I typed them in the location bar. For example, if I typed ps blog it would b=me to the PlayStation blog, if I typed gmail, it'd bring right to Gmail, ect. But not it's just searching for what I type. When I type gmail it will just bring up a google search of gmail. I tried to see if changing some options in about:config but nothing worked so I reset what I changed. Please help! I'm debating whether to go back to v. 3.6.16!

Chosen solution

The change between Firefox 3.6.* and Firefox 4 is how location bar search works. In Firefox 3.6 it uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and if there is a clear match it will take you to the site, otherwise it shows the Google search result. With Firefox 4 it just performs a Google search if you type something which is not recognised as a URL.

To get the Firefox 3.6 behaviour on Firefox 4 you need to change a hidden preference.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

If you prefer, you can also do this by installing the Browse by Name extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name

Read this answer in context 👍 18

All Replies (1)

TonyE
TonyE
  • Moderator
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Chosen Solution

The change between Firefox 3.6.* and Firefox 4 is how location bar search works. In Firefox 3.6 it uses Google "Browse by name" search. With the browse by name search, it performs a Google search and if there is a clear match it will take you to the site, otherwise it shows the Google search result. With Firefox 4 it just performs a Google search if you type something which is not recognised as a URL.

To get the Firefox 3.6 behaviour on Firefox 4 you need to change a hidden preference.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

If you prefer, you can also do this by installing the Browse by Name extension - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browse-by-name