jsgoddess was recently here for a visit, and she observed me doing something repeatedly that I’d never been conscious of. And now that I’m aware of it, it’s driving me mad.
We’d be engaged in conversation about some topic which would invariably call for looking something up on the internet. I use Google exclusively for my internet searches. Google is set as my home page on my home computers. And I have the Google search toolbar up in my browsers. So what do I do when I want to search Google? I…click in the URL bar and type out “www.google.com” without thinking. Which, invariably, leads to my companion putting her head down on my desk and indulging a fit of laughter, along with some finger-pointing when she can compose herself enough for it. :smack:
Old habits are tough to break. Why can’t I remember that I have one-click (or less!) access to a Google search when I need it? How do I change this??? I’ve never been dumped over a repeated case of the stupids before, but it could happen any day now if I don’t get help.
As habits go I can think of 47 worse ones without any effort.
It was only a few months ago that I myself noticed there’s a little Google logo up there in the tool bar. I remember to click on it about 70% of the time now.
I go to google.com as a protest against doing what a business entity wants me to do. I might want to check google, but I’ll do it on my own terms, damnit!!!
I do exactly the same, even though in Google Chrome you can just type a Google search straight into the “address bar”. It just feels wrong to do that, like when you see people type URLs into the search box on Google itself.
(BTW you do know that you can at least save yourself typing the “www.” and “.com” parts by just typing “google” and hitting CTRL+Enter? I may type in unnecessary URLs, but at least I do it in a fairly speedy manner )
What if you turn off the navigation toolbar for a little bit so you CAN’T type in an address (for anything), and then force yourself to either use the Google page or the Google search toolbar?
You’ll have to search for all of your destinations for a little bit (like type in cnn.com to the search toolbar to get to cnn.com), or use bookmarks, but it could help cure you…
Are you using Firefox? If you are, the open google, right click in the search box and choose “add a keyword for this search”. Choose a simple one - like “gg”, for example. Next time you want to do a google search press ctrl+l to go to the address bar, type “gg” and whatever you want to search for. This works for other sites as well. I use “gi” for google images, “wp” for wikipedia, “im” for imdb, “you” for youtube, etc.
Try it out - you’ll never go back. And soon you will be in the :smack: position whenever you look over another searcher’s shoulder…
Maybe make your Google search box a little bit bigger - I never used mine until I embiggened it so I could type a proper search in it (and see the typing).
“Feels wrong”? I beg to differ. That’s how I do all my searches and it feels so right. I also have a 1-click Wiki Extension, a Gmail extension, and a dictionary extension (which is especially awesome because it lets you double-click any word you come across and gives you an instant definition).
My wife does that and I haven’t been able to break her of it, even with my constant mockery. She quit smoking more easily than she is able to quit typing www.google.com into the address bar before a search. I think this might be one you can’t rid yourself of.
shrug I have the toolbar installed, but hidden. I only use it for the passive features. I do this same sort of thing, but I don’t type out “google.com,” I just hit the home button.
Of course, my much more annoying internet search habit is looking something up for work, then getting lost in a Wikipedia/SDMB/obscure messageboard clickathon for half an hour, learning lots of interesting shit but getting nothing productive done at all.
)
position whenever you look over another searcher’s shoulder…