When I created a Delphi Custom Search Engine (CSE) I not only found it really useful but that it returned much better results than just using google.com. I’ve been playing with the same idea for C# and Facebook development and have created the following search engines including links to quickly add these to your browser’s Search Bar for Firefox and IE7:

http://www.stevetrefethen.com/csharpsearch/

Add C# Search to your browser’s Search Bar

This engine includes 26 sites so far and I’m sure I’ll be adding to that over time. I’ve only been using it a few days now and I can already see the improved quality of the links coming back.

Here is one for Facebook development. I really like the Facebook platform and there seems to be a lot of interest in application development for it.

http://www.stevetrefethen.com/facebooksearch/

Add Facebook Search to your browser’s Search Bar

I’ll be tweaking both of these as time goes on and feel free to ping me if you know of some good resources for either. Btw, Google Coop rocks!

Btw, please let me know if you would like to collaborate on either one. Same goes for my Delphi Search engine since I’m rarely using that one these days.

Enjoy!

[Update: Oct 19th] Fix Add search engine links

Awhile ago I created a Delphi custom search engine and when I went to create a new search engine I took a peek at its statistics on Google Coop. Much to my surprise this search engine is actually averaging 17 searches a day. Sure, that doesn’t exactly sound like much but I was really expecting zero as I never got much feedback about it. I’m glad there are at least a few people out there using it. Here is a chart of it’s usage: 

I think the April results are so skewed because I was testing it a lot and it’s when I first blogged about it. I really like Google Coop and have created a custom search engine for my OPML allowing me to do easy blog searching. If you’re using the Delphi search engine and have sites you’d like added to the list just leave a comment and let me know or if you’re using it and find it effective that would be fun to know as well.

Btw, I tried adding some JavaScript to this post to display the top queries but it seems Google’s JavaScript is busted. Oh well.

I was searching for this post by Jeff Atwood and this got me thinking that it's crazy Google Reader doesn't have search! I think when you start using Google Reader you should automatically, and behind the scenes, get a Google Co-op search engine that tracks the sites you are subscribed to and let's you search only those sites.

Ah ha! It just so happens you can do this yourself. All you need to do is:

1. Export your Google Reader OPML
   
2. Create your own Custom Search Engine (CSE)
   
3. Import your OPML file into your CSE
   1. Browse to Google Coop
   2. Click the control panel for your CSE
   3. Click the Advanced link
   4. Under "Annotations" browse to your OPML file and click Uplolad

Presto! You now have a now have a Google Search Engine of your subscribed blogs. Let's see how well it works on the aforementioned post.

Search from Google.com

Search with Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)

Sweet! Worked like a charm, now if Google would just do the leg work for us. :-)

In an effort to make the Delphi Developer Search Engine I blogged about the other day easier to use I've added OpenSearch support so you can add it to your browsers search bar (for FireFox and IE7). All you need to do is browse to the search engine page and click the "Add DelphiSearch to your Search Bar" link from the left hand column. Once added you no longer have to visit the search page to search using this custom search engine.

Additionally, here is information on how you can use this search engine on your own blog or web page.

I've been putting together a custom Delphi specific search engine using Google and I'm finally ready to blog about it. The URL is:

http://www.stevetrefethen.com/delphisearch

That page contains a search box that will search (currently) 45 different Delphi related websites I've personally selected. For example, here is a search for TListView. Here is another search for MagicAjax.NET that avoids the search problems I mentioned with CodeCentral, notice the CodeCentral link is second in the list though it's the author link not the article link but still much better than before.

Give it a shot and let me know how well it works for you. I may also be looking for contributors so let me know if that's something that interests you as well.


[Update May 2, 2007] Fix TListview search link

I've noticed what I believe could be a problem with how CodeCentral handles the HTML title tag for entry pages. I've blogged about the importance of the title tag and I'm certainly not alone on the subject. In CodeCentral the title includes the ID for the entry like this:

ID: 24211 Delphi for .NET example using AJAX.NET Pro

I think the colon adversely affects the search results on Google. For example, take the following Google search (click the link to see the results):

Delphi example AJAX.NET Pro

I fully expected to see the CodeCentral entry I mentioned but it's no where to be found. Likewise when searching for:

ID: 21679 Query Microsoft Index Server Using Delphi

I tried the following search terms:

Microsoft Index Server Delphi

Once again, CodeCentral isn't listed leading me to this following conclusions. First, don't use a colon in your title tag. Second, if you're looking for items on CodeCentral you may have much better luck using a Google site search like this:

Delphi example AJAX.NET Pro site:cc.codegear.com

My first shot at a title for this blog entry: "Carefully pick your blog entry title"

I've been doing the blog thing for a few years now and if there is one piece of advice it would be to use search terms in your blog entry titles. Each time I start a new post I spend a minute trying to think of words that will help me find the post on Google a year from now. I often rewrite the title of a post several times as I find the keywords tend to change as the post is written. If you're post is about Delphi then be sure to include the word Delphi even if it means you can't use that clever title you thought of.

If you're a blogger think back to some of the blog posts you've written then head over to Google and try to find them seriously, do it now. Part of the reason I'm writing this post is because some of the most useful entries on the CodeGear blog are practically unsearchable. I simply can't find them when I search Google even when I use the exact entry title.

Now, the working title is: Use search terms for your blog entry titles

Having switched to dasBlog as my blog engine I can see the search terms people used to find entries on my blog. I'm also able to reverse the process and look at the search results from these queries and what related links there were and work backwards to try and truly understand the search.

Now, the title is: Include search terms in the title of each blog entry

Later this week after Google's had a chance to reindex my site I'll do some experimenting with trying to search for this blog entry.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. I've written one blog post about my new Motorola KRZR cell phone that has built-in GPS capabilities back on December 7th titled "GPS, maps and navigation with the Motorola KRZR K1m". If you were searching for this cell phone's gps capabilities what search terms would you use "krzr map", "krzr navigation" or perhaps "krzr navigator"? My blog entry is #1 for map, #3 for navigation and #10 for navigator (btw, the Verizon GPS software is called "VZ Navigator").

In contrast:

Here's a Google search on the title of Joe McGlynn's excellent article on Ruby titled 12 lines of code (btw, read that and his previous one too).

And one on Allen's must read try...finally. post about Delphi try finally blocks. Also, be sure to read his post titled Exceptional Safety.

And one on Nick Hodges entry titled About the Turbo Product Line.

And lastly, here is one on my post from yesterday titled 3D modeling using Google SketchUp. Notice that one is #3, right after two links to Google SketchUp itself.

So, what's my point? Well, I want to raise the profile of CodeGear's programming communities and I'd like to cross "fixing search" off my long list of ideas.