Today when I went to a KB article at the http://support.microsoft.com site using IE7, I noticed the search provider drop down light up orange.
I had never noticed this though I have been using IE7 for a long time now. Clicking on this button usually shows the installed search providers and also other options related to search providers. I know about that feature and have used it.
Since I had not seen this, I just clicked on the dropped down and I could see it had a new option called the Microsoft Support Search Provider, that was added.
Not only was this provider available for use, it was also appearing in the Add Search Providers menu. I tried going to Google to see if IE was able to automatically find a Google Search Provider. It did not get anything new. So I was kind of intrigued by this and decided on searching for information on this feature.
I found an article on this in a blog post at Technobabble.
Take a page from Microsoft Support Page; if you go to that site, you'll notice the arrow next to the search magnifying glass is yellow. If you click it, you'll notice three things:
- "Microsoft Support Site" is a new entry that you never added
- A little yellow sun next to "Microsoft Support Search"
- An entry that reads "Add Search Providers" with a subentry "Microsoft Support Search"
This is done by a simple line in the header:Â Â Â Â
    <link title="Microsoft Support Search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" rel="search" href="/common/opensearchdescriptor.aspx?ln=en-us" />
The original post also describes how to set this up for you own site.
This post was written yesterday Sep 21, but due to some problem with my internet connection, actually got posted only on Sep 22nd.
Read: Embed Search Provider Details in your Page
Previous Topic
