971 Like most Internet users, I've fallen into the habit of using Google as my main search engine, and this default behavior has only been amplified by The Safari browser's Google search field, which unlike some other browsers does not provide alternate search engine preferences to be configured.

That's unfortunate, because there are other search engines out there that arguably do a better job than Google for certain search requirements. http://www.teoma.com is a good example of an excellent but not well known search engine.

And the venerable (in an Internet context) Yahoo! search engine has recently upgraded its services through the deployment of its own algorithmic search technology on Yahoo!Search ( http://search.yahoo.com ), marking what Jeff Weiner, senior vice president, Yahoo! Search and Marketplace claims will be "the beginning of a rapid succession of innovations from Yahoo! Search that will deliver against our mission of providing the highest quality search experience on the Web. "Within the next few weeks and months, consumers will continue to see improvements to Yahoo!'s search technology in addition to advancements in search personalization and other user features."

If you would like to have Safari use Yahoo! instead of Google, Safari2Yahoo is a simple freeware AppleScript that will do the trick and also change the word "Google" in the Safari search box when empty to say "Yahoo!".

Just download the applescript program here, double click on the application and it will make the necessary changes. You are encouraged to make a backup copy of Safari before doing this by right clicking (Control click) on Safari in applications and select Duplicate. That way you can easily revert to the stock version if you wish.

Safari2Yahoo has only been tested with Safari 1.2 (v125) on OS X 10.3. and also only works on the English version of Safari. If you use another language the change will still work, but the it will still say Google in the search field and menu.

This AppleScript Application will do a binary edit of several files in the Safari Application The files that are edited are:
• /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari
• /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Browser.nib/keyedobjects.nib
• /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/MainMenu.nib/objects.nib
• /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist

Simply run he Safari2Yahoo program once and then restart Safari and you should be set. If you want to revert to using Google for some reason just drag the modified Safari to the trash and use the copy you backed up to.

It worked fine for me.

System requirements:
Safari 1.2

Safari2Yahoo is freeware

For more information, visit here.

Tags: OSX Odyssey ï

(0) Trackbacks ï

Login † or † Register † †