Feature request: respect default search engine

[Vinnl]

(I'm one of the VimFx refugees, so apologies if this request is too Firefox-specific.)

When I search with the Vomnibar, that search is executed in Google. My default search engine (in Firefox, but I believe you can set on in Chrome too?) is not Google, however. It would be nice if Vimium could find out which search engine I've set as default and use that for searches.

[mrmr1993]

Neither Chrome nor Firefox provide a WebExtensions API for us to access the browser's search engines, so you will have to change it manually if you want it to match the default.

You can change the default and/or available engines by following the steps here.

[leoschwarz]

For Firefox there is some initial upstream discussion about providing such an API: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1352598

Though I have to say an API to directly get focus to the URL bar would be a lot easier, as it would respect user's default choices and delegate all that logic to the browser.

@mrmr1993 The linked docs actually don't explain how to change the default search engine, only how to add custom search engines. I had to click on "Show Advanced Options" and then copy the search prefix url into the default search engine field.

[jorgesumle]

If this cannot be solved now, I propose changing the Vimiums's search engine to something more privacy-respecting like Brave Search or DuckDuckGo. I also think that reviewing and accepting https://github.com/philc/vimium/pull/3693 would be a great improvement. I had to search a lot to change this, because it's in the advanced options, and I didn't know how to get there.

[ayn2op]

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/search
• https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/search

[dudicoco]

If this cannot be solved now, I propose changing the Vimiums's search engine to something more privacy-respecting like Brave Search or DuckDuckGo. I also think that reviewing and accepting #3693 would be a great improvement. I had to search a lot to change this, because it's in the advanced options, and I didn't know how to get there.

@jorgesumle how do you know that these are privacy respecting without access to their backends?

[jorgesumle]

@jorgesumle how do you know that these are privacy respecting without access to their backends?

Their business model isn't based on collecting lots of user data, they don't place tracking shit like this ?q=asda&sca_esv=941af24518045317&source=hp&ei=BC_zZYT5CZ-8xc8Pp9yx6AQ&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZfM9FNwznii-d8S-bRQ9Dr6MosVSrS46&ved=0ahUKEwiEi6WBn_SEAxUfXvEDHSduDE0Q4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=asda&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgRhc2RhSAtQAFgAcAB4AJABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBA8gBAJgCAKACAJgDAJIHAKAHAA&sclient=gws-wiz when you make a query, and they claim to be privacy-respecting. I obviously don't know what happens in their backend, but I'm 100% sure they are more privacy-friendly than Google.

[philc]

1. I think the UI for changing the default search engine is now less of an issue (see my comment on #3693).
2. Vimium doesn't have any particular opinion on search engines. If we have to pick one, then to reduce user friction, we should use the most popular one (which is Google, by far) to reduce the proportion of people that get surprised when they search in the Vomnibar for the first time, and who then have to dig around to change the search engine setting.
3. If the user cares about using a specific search engine, presumably they've already changed it in their browser settings, so #4330 is a great solution to this problem. I wasn't aware that there was a search API that extensions could use. It was introduced in Chrome 87. I think that's the way forward.