Firefox tests dedicated Address Bar button for easier Search Engine Switching

Mozilla continues to work on adding new features to Firefox, such as HTTPS-First Mode and vertical tabs, which improve user experience and security. The company is now testing a new search button in the address bar for Firefox Nightly that lets you change search engines on the fly while browsing websites in tabs.

Firefox offers multiple default search engines, these may vary depending on your location or region. While a major source of revenue for Mozilla comes from Google, the company offers other options like Bing, Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo, etc. while keeping Google the default for most users worldwide.

If you have a reason to use different search engines for a search query, you can by using the options provided at the dropdown in the URL bar from “This time search with:” row, but this is hardly noticeable and most users may not be aware of that.

Mozilla seems to be working to address this and is adding a dedicate search button to the address bar for changing engines. This makes it easier to do temporary searches for one-off queries without modifying your default search engine. The company is removing the search engine buttons at the bottom and making them available with one click next to the default search icon’s down arrow button.

This feature could potentially allow for temporary search engine changes for a single tab like before. Here is how it might work:

• Clicking the search button in the address bar reveals your default search engine’s icon and a down arrow.
• Tapping the down arrow displays a list of available search engines.
• Choosing a different engine from the list could be used for that specific search only, without altering your default settings.

Here’s how you can enable the new feature in Firefox

1. Launch Firefox
2. Open about:config
3. Click “Accept the Risk and Continue”
4. Find and change the following preference value to true
   browser.urlbar.scotchBonnet.enableOverride

Ensure you’re using the latest Firefox version to avoid bugs that prompt you to use the browser every time you restart your computer. Mozilla has also taken a U-turn by supporting Firefox on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, which Chrome no longer supports.