[Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

supusr · 2022-06-25 19:42:13

I use arch and firefox, with duckduckgo as the default search engine and duckduckgo privacy essentials addon enabled. If I start a search from duckduckgo.com I can use the duckduckgo settings to specify certain preferences, such as post instead of get, for example. My question is: if I start a search from a new default firefox tab instead, will firefox still use these preferences since duckduckgo is still the search engine? Thanks, in advance, for any responses.

Last edited by supusr (2022-07-01 04:04:14)

2ManyDogs · 2022-06-25 22:20:53

Unless I am misunderstanding the question, it sounds like you could simply test this for yourself in less time than it took to post a question here.

What happens if you try it?

supusr · 2022-06-26 05:00:07

2ManyDogs: If I generate two searches, one from the duckduckgo.com page with my preferences set (say, Post instead of Get) and another from a new tab in firefox with duckduckgo as the default engine, the result appears the same. Still, there is no way for me to know if the results were generated with my preferences or not in the second case, hence the question. That is, unless you could tell me how to tell the difference ...

seth · 2022-06-26 05:59:55

* Configure a ddg color theme (or anything that has a visible impact)
* Wireshark the traffic.

supusr · 2022-06-30 18:06:28

seth: Your reply may be (maybe) an explanation of how to find the answer I seek, but I don't understand it. I just thought someone might know the yes/no answer to the original post, but there has been no great interest so far. Neither Mozilla nor Duckduckgo have replied to my queries, either.

twelveeighty · 2022-06-30 18:21:51

Just open the Web Developer Tools - Network Traffic and watch what happens in both cases. A GET and/or POST will be logged. Seth's response wasn't that difficult to understand, tbh, but Firefox itself should be able to tell you as well.

Trilby · 2022-06-30 18:26:58

supusr wrote:

seth: Your reply may be (maybe) an explanation of how to find the answer I seek, but I don't understand it.

Perhaps you are not familiar with wireshark, but what seth provided were two different options. I'm not sure what part of setting a color theme you wouldn't underatand. Go to the ddg settings (clearly you've already been there, so you know this part). Set a color theme or color setting or some other visible setting - such options are the vast majority of the settings option ... you really couldn't *not* be aware of these settings. Then check whether the firefox search results uses the newly selected color or not and you then have your answer as to whether the firefox search bar uses the ddg settings.

supusr · 2022-07-01 04:03:35

Trilby: Thanks for your more descriptive explanation of seth's and Twelveeighty's replies. From the three of you I was able to perform the tests and determine that Firefox's default search does indeed respect and use the preferences set through duckduckgo's preferences. Much appreciated.

Trilby · 2022-07-01 11:23:23

Actually ... sorry for thowing more confusion here. But while I described what was intended (or what I believe was intended) by seth's first proposed test, in hindsight I don't think it is a good test at all and wireshark or developer tools would be the way to go.

The reason here is that the setting for GET vs POST is different than the other settings as it applies only to the web-form that ddg displays in order to perform the search. Most other settings (e.g., colors/themes/etc) apply to both the form, and the results pages. So when you search from firefox you do get the settings applied to the results page. But it is so far beyond unlikely to even border on impossible that firefox's search bar would respect settings that are specific to ddg's web-form or submission page. (In priniciple it could be possible to write a plugin that screened for various cookies set for the destination search page and detected the GET/POST setting ... but I'd very gladly take the bet that there's no way in hell that firefox's built in search is actually doing this).

And this leads to my very strong suspicion that firefox's search will not be affected by ddg's settings for GET vs POST at all. Firefox's search needs to be configured to POST. And the only real test would be to monitor the network traffic (w.g., via wireshark or developer tools).

As for giving clear instructions for either of these tests, if needed that will need to come from someone else. I don't use wireshark and have only occasionally used firefox's developer tools. But both of these have ample documentation just a ddg search away.

Last edited by Trilby (2022-07-01 11:37:02)

supusr · 2022-07-01 13:55:36

Thanks, Trilby. I will start a new post to inquire about how to set Firefox's search to POST.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-06-25 19:42:13

[Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#2 2022-06-25 22:20:53

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#3 2022-06-26 05:00:07

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#4 2022-06-26 05:59:55

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#5 2022-06-30 18:06:28

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#6 2022-06-30 18:21:51

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#7 2022-06-30 18:26:58

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#8 2022-07-01 04:03:35

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#9 2022-07-01 11:23:23

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

#10 2022-07-01 13:55:36

Re: [Solved] Firefox Search Behavior

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