Ubiquity Is Boring (Firefox Plugin)

Ubiquity is a Firefox plugin currently in alpha stage. It’s been receiving some attention so I figured I’d try it out.

Short description:

Long description:

I can do just about everything Ubiquity can do using built-in Firefox features already.

For example, using their tutorial as an example:

Let’s start with Wikipedia. Say you want to know what a "babel fish" is. You simply issue "wikipedia babel fish".

I can do the exact same thing utilizing keyword searches in FF (which has been in the browser since version 2). In fact I’ve written before on how to do this.

"Wikipedia babel fish" is quite a lot to type. You can save some wear and tear on your fingers by letting Ubiquity’s suggestion list do the work for you. As you saw in the last section, bringing up Ubiquity and typing only "w" presents you with suggestions of all the commands that start with that letter: namely, Wikipedia and Weather.

Again, I can do the exact same thing with built-in FF keyword searches.

Select the words "Mountain View, California" below by dragging your mouse across them:
Mountain View, California
Now summon Ubiquity. With the input box empty (hit the "delete" key to clear out your last command, if necessary), you’ll see a suggestion list full of different commands that could act upon your selection..

I can do a Google search by dragging over text, highlighting, right-clicking and the Google search is right there. I don’t need to "summon" anything. And if it’s not in Google, I don’t care about it.

Let’s say you’re reading a web page and you find an unfamiliar word:
aglet
Just select the word and issue "define".
You could have achieved the same thing by typing "define aglet"

Once again, this can be done via built-in FF keyword search easily by assigning a dictionary search to keyword d. Highlight, copy, type "d [word here]" and it looks it up and defines it.

- OR -

CTRL+K (goes to search bar at top right), type define:[word here], press Enter. Goes to Google and defines word. Done.

The e-mailing feature

This is the best feature of Ubiquity, but only if you use Gmail. And I don’t use Gmail.

The map command

Once again, easily do-able by assigning a keyword search via Google Maps. OR Microsoft Live Maps. OR any other map service with a search function.

All the other commands

The vast majority of this stuff can be replicated using FF keyword searches. eBay searches, Ask.com searches, etc. etc. Any site that has a search function can be assigned any keyword you want in Firefox. Furthermore they’re unlimited unlike Ubiquity.

So what’s so great about this plugin..? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I uninstalled it.

Like I said, meh.

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mateo
Hey Rich, weren’t you the one that suggested Launchy on pcmech? Ubiquity seems like the Launchy for Firefox, sure right now it’s only for Gmail but with time people would make commands for other clients. You might have seen this already but
http://www.techspot.com/news/31406-mozilla-labs-unveils-ubiquity-for-usergenerated-mashups.html
nice flash video about ubiquity.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
My point was that the built-in functionality of Firefox almost completely negates anything Ubiquity could offer. Launchy is a completely separate app and is standalone and not a plugin.

sinister
the whole point is that it all works from a single search box. that pops up whenever u need it.
I say Ubiquity is pretty awesome
teohhanhui
Yes, you can already do all that, but I think the point of Ubiquity is to let you do all these with fewer clicks and typing. The ability to get search results on the current page is in fact very useful.
IMO Ubiquity coupled with the IE8 Beta 2′s Activities would be near-perfect. Ubiquity has to take search plugin keywords to be really useful. The current approach of specialized command feeds is simply too restrictive. Why not take advantage of the already existing search plugins instead of reinventing everything? (It’s also better integrated with the browser that way)
bubo
ALPHA stage, that means it may not have much yet.
point: ubiquity will open a new tab, typing in the search box, wont, i know its just a small step, but its just a point
‘This is the best feature of Ubiquity, but only if you use Gmail. And I don’t use Gmail.’ Its still in alpha they will release more compatability!
ubiquity is only limited to the commands that are written.
Eric
Oh c’mon, haven’t you watched the demo video where they highlight a page of craigslist search results, type “map these”, and a freaking map pops up with a pin for each craigslist rental? Things like that are what reveal the true potential of Ubiquity, not command-line searching.
Johnny G
This guy is totally off point. The ability to link actions together like mapping then emailing from gmail is great.
I find myself using ubiquity more when I’m just reading a site and what clarification or tangential research on a subject. I’ll ctrl+SPACE then run a define command, a goo, or a map. Then have my results in the ubiquity container without ever leaving the page.
This guy does not get it.