Hi all,

I recently stumbled upon the specification for OpenSearch [1].
Essentially it's a way for website owners to tell how the site can be
searched, by (among other things) specifying a URL template with associated
content type of the results, title, description, example queries etc. Most
modern browsers can add the search to the "search bar" (in Firefox, it's
right of the address bar), after finding the description file.

Thinking there is a use for searching OL directly, I thought I'd test it
out with OpenLibrary's general search.

This almost empty HTML page [2] contains a <link> to the OpenSearch
Description [3]. If you visit [2], Firefox will recognise the description
file and allow you to add it to the search bar (use the search bar's
dropdown menu to see "Add Open Library search".
You can then use the search bar like you use search box in the top right
corner of Open Library webpages.

There are ways to integrate OpenSearch even more, but they take a little
more work. Adding e.g. author search, on the other hand, should be easy to
add to the HTML.

Ben

[1] http://www.opensearch.org/Specifications/OpenSearch/1.1/Draft_5
[2] http://companjen.name/opensearch1.html
[3] http://companjen.name/opensearch1.xml
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