A search plugin provides the ability to access a

search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...

from a web browser, without having to go to the engine's website first. Technically, a search plugin is a small text file that tells the browser what information to send to a search engine and how the results are to be retrieved. The ease with which search plugins can be created has led to archives where public contributions can be downloaded, and these can be important in software

personalization Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or a product to accommodate specific individuals, sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. A wide variety of organizations use personalization to improv ...

. With the introduction of Firefox 2.0 in 2006, search plugins started to offer search suggestions, where terms would appear as the user typed. These are laid out in a menu, and are predicted based on the most likely ending to a word that was midway through being typed. This uses Ajax technology to query the remote website's database for most common search terms, and so differs from traditional browser autofill, where the form would typically be completed based on information the user had entered previously. Most search engines now offer search plugins and these are often paired with download of related software. Among those offering search plugins ar
AmazonGoogleeBayGoogle MapsFrompo
an
Reddit
among others.

Formats

OpenSearch OpenSearch is a collection of technologies that allow the publishing of search results in a format suitable for syndication and aggregation. Introduced in 2005, it is a way for websites and search engines to publish search results in a standard ...

is supported by both

Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and a ...

2.0 and later, and Internet Explorer 7. *Most

Gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

based browsers support search plugins using a

SGML The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates": * Declarative: Markup should des ...

based format. * Opera supports search plugins using its custom search.ini format. {{Software-type-stub Software add-ons Web browsers