OpenSearch for getsatisfaction.com - integrate with browser search.

I'd love to rave about how many millions of more users use opensearch, but I think it's a "power user" thing only. The upside is that both FF & IE7 do understand it and have UI tips to make it discoverable.

I find that open search combined with FF keywords make it incredibly powerful. Very ubiquity-like.

For example, I have self-configured a Flickr search that show me results in thumbnails and only creative-commons licensed content.
Typing into the FF address bar: "fl thor mueller" sends me to: http://flickr.com/search/?q=thor+muel... - with 1 cc flickr result.

Hadn't thought about it, but you are right: global search would be the right thing here. But even having both (2 open searches) or either (just 1 opensearch) would be helpful.

Note: that flickr opensearch I just customized myself. It is easy to do (I'm hoping getsatisfaction is a bit more responsive to customer input). The hardest/most annoying part is uploading the opensearch XML file to a webserver and then "installing" from there (since FF only accepts opensearch over http, not local access).

I made my own. After thinking that the difficulty for you was likely that you didn't currently have the overarching search that you wanted (that, and you didn't think there would be a great demand for this feature), I realized that Google did a pretty good job already. So I quickly cobbled together this simple Google Site Search for GetSatisfaction. Voila!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<opensearchdescription>
<shortname>GetSatisfaction Search</shortname>
<description>Google Site Search for GetSatisfaction.com</description>
<url type="text/html">
<image height="16" width="16">http://getsatisfaction.com/favicon.gif</image>
<inputencoding>UTF-8</inputencoding>
<searchform>http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&am...</searchform>
</url></opensearchdescription>

Hopefully it helps you guys or some future surfer. It really was the quick-and-dirty solution to my own problem.

Cheers.