This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Is there a way to change the behavior of the URL bar in such a way that it doesn't perform a DNS lookup on input that clearly isn't a website?(I want search :)

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by bmeininger

bmeininger
bmeininger
more options

Chrome, for example, does not perform a DNS lookup if the input does not look like a valid website, instead it perform a search within the default search engine.

I think that if the URL bar behaved in a similar way, it would increase the user experience by a great deal. I really like Firefox and have been using it for a couple of years, but these are things that really annoy me as a webdeveloper.

The only big flaw I find in the Chrome version of handling URL bar input is that one cannot add custom upper level domains to Chrome, which makes working with with internal upper level domain websites rather annoying.

Chrome, for example, does not perform a DNS lookup if the input does not look like a valid website, instead it perform a search within the default search engine. I think that if the URL bar behaved in a similar way, it would increase the user experience by a great deal. I really like Firefox and have been using it for a couple of years, but these are things that really annoy me as a webdeveloper. The only big flaw I find in the Chrome version of handling URL bar input is that one cannot add custom upper level domains to Chrome, which makes working with with internal upper level domain websites rather annoying.

Chosen solution

See also:

You can also add a ((one letter) keyword to a search engine and use this keyword in the location bar to select/use a specific search engine.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (4)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator
more options

hello, firefox will trigger a search from the address bar instead of a dns lookup if you are entering two words or more.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

See also:

You can also add a ((one letter) keyword to a search engine and use this keyword in the location bar to select/use a specific search engine.

bmeininger
bmeininger Question owner
more options

Hi philipp and cor-el,

Thanks to the both of you for your replies.

@philipp, I have noticed this, but it's not really the solution I was looking for.

@cor-el, I will check out the links and see if they have to offer me anything

Kind regards

bmeininger
bmeininger Question owner
more options

I have checked out your links cor-el, and found that turning off: 'browser.fixup.alternate.enabled' does the trick.

Thanks a lot!