The Opera web browser is my favorite web browser. One of the main things I love about it is the option to define your own address bar shortcuts. For instance, instead of typing ‘http://www.google.com’, waiting for Google page to load, typing your search keywords and hitting the submit button, the Opera browser is by default set to allow you to simply type ‘g my name is red’ in the address bar to search for ‘my name is red’. Now, so far nothing great, because most browsers allow you also to set your own preferred search bar, so you can mimic this by typing your keyword here.

But if you go to the Opera preferences > Search , you can add your own address bar shortcuts. For instance I have added Wikipedia as follows:

Name: Wikipedia
Keyword: w
Address:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s&fulltext=Search

So, I only have to type ‘w My Name is Red’ in the address bar to search Wikipedia for ‘My Name is Red’.

Create your own customized address bar shortcut, by simply replacing the search string of any URL by %s. For instance:

Name: Merriam Webster
Keyword: m
Address: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/%s

or

Name: WordPress
Keyword: wp
Address: http://wordpress.org/search/%s