Most of you know DuckDuckGo as just another “alternative search engine”. Well, there’s something else about that’s just plain cool and insanely usable, !bang keywords.
I find myself using DDG !bang keywords a lot because they’re just so darned convenient.
A !bang keyword’s purpose is to purposely use another site to find the stuff you’re looking for.
The entire list of keywords is listed on the link above, but here are a few of my favorites.
Google Maps: !map [location]
Example: !map Tampa, FL
Bing Maps: !bingmaps [location]
Example: !bingmaps Tampa, FL
Google Images Search: !gi [word]
Example: !gi computer
Bing Images Search: !bi [word]
Example: !bi computer
Extensions/add-ons search for browsers: !chrome, !firefox, !opera (and more)
Example: !firefox reminderfox
Dictionary: !d [word]
Example: !d computer
The list of !bang keywords available is ridiculously long, but that’s a totally awesome thing.
What advantage does this serve to you? That’s an easy answer. You can bounce around to a whole bunch of other sites direct from DDG without having to remember a bunch of locations or click a bunch of bookmarks. All of it is within the DDG interface via !bang keywords.
Once you start using !bang keywords, you’ll love it and may even switch the default home page in your browser to DuckDuckGo because they are so darned useful.
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