Ruarí Ødegaard

11.52 hidden feature: DuckDuckGo is added to Opera

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:21:35 PM

duckduckgo, dontbubble, ddg, donttrack, search, privacy, 0-click info

I'm sure most Opera fans are aware that we released an update to our stable browser today to fix a security issue. And whilst that was the primary motivation for the release it didn't stop adding a hidden gem. My new favourite search engine, DuckDuckGo was added to the pre-provided search engine list for English language users.

Why is DDG so good?

Well, firstly it gives surprisingly decent results for a range of subjects, sometimes surpassing the big name search engines. However what really sets it apart is its innovative features. Things like !bang searches (providing lots of pre-set keyword searches to a range of specialist search engines) or Zero-click info boxes.

Zero-click info boxes pull information from relevant sources and often answer your question right off the bat with ... well ... zero clicks!

Sometimes if your search is ambiguous they also help refine what you are looking for. Consider that two people searching for "Opera" might be looking for very different things!

Where DDG really excels though is its approach to privacy. They don't track you like their rivals and because they aren't tracking you, you don't get filtered results (for something a little more involved than DDG's fun guide, check out this TED talk on the Filter Bubble).

I'd recommend you set it as your default search engine for a week and try to resist resorting back to your old favourite. If you give it real chance and make use of its clever features and you might find that you don't even want to go back!

Opera 12.00 themes on Linux and FreeBSDOpera 11.52 for Arch Linux

Comments

Charles SchlossChas4 # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:35:18 PM

I see it now

I have over 23 custom searches http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Victory.gif -

FransFrenzie # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:37:22 PM

I also like Ixquick.

Yippy (formerly Clusty) has some interesting ideas (like clouds) as well.

And Wolfram Alpha is a lot of fun (but mostly useful for mathematics and comparisons between things — albeit not necessarily the comparison you want).

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:40:17 PM

Originally posted by Chas4:

I have over 23 custom searches

You might find that some of them have !bang equivalents. If you get used to using them instead they will be available to you even when you are using someone else's machine. And if something is missing, you could always suggest a new !bang.

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:43:51 PM

Originally posted by ruario:

And Wolfram Alpha is a lot of fun

DDG will actually pull in things from Wolfram Alpha in its Zero Click info boxes, e.g.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=number+of+bones+in+human+body

Edit: There is a full list of Zero-click Info sources on their Goodies page.

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:49:32 PM

Another cool thing with Zero-click Info sources is when they display a video right in the search results, e.g.

http://duckduckgo.com/?q=Popeyes+Runs+Out+of+Chicken

FransFrenzie # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 9:03:55 PM

Originally posted by Ruarí Ødegaard:

You might find that some of them have !bang equivalents. If you get used to using them instead they will be available to you even when you are using someone else's machine. And if something is missing, you could always suggest a new !bang.

The bangs are different than what I use. For example, I use wp for English and then also wpn (Dutch), wpd (German), and wpf (French). For Wiktionary it only seems to offer English (although I don't use Wiktionary too much). Anyway, I like my custom searches.

Originally posted by Ruarí Ødegaard:

DDG will actually pull in things from Wolfram Alpha in its Zero Click info boxes, e.g.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=number+of+bones+in+human+body

I'm quite confused. For some things it works, for others it doesn't.

Charles SchlossChas4 # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 9:59:14 PM

Originally posted by ruario:

You might find that some of them have !bang equivalents

Lots of them are from search boxes on websites

Unregistered user # Wednesday, October 19, 2011 11:19:59 PM

Anonymous writes: Nice to see this search engine included and encouraging others to try it. almost like the good ole search engine war days :)

d4rkn1ght # Thursday, October 20, 2011 4:21:24 AM

It's great to see DuckDuckGo in the list. DuckDuckGo, along with Scroogle and Ixquick are the search engines I use!

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Thursday, October 20, 2011 7:42:25 AM

Originally posted by Frenzie:

The bangs are different than what I use. For example, I use wp for English and then also wpn (Dutch), wpd (German), and wpf (French). For Wiktionary it only seems to offer English (although I don't use Wiktionary too much). Anyway, I like my custom searches.

Yep, indeed it is currently English language focussed, which is why we only offer this to users who have Opera running in English at present.

Originally posted by Frenzie:

I'm quite confused. For some things it works, for others it doesn't.

I don't know the internal logic of when it decides to offer zero click info and how it chooses between its many sources. You could try asking @duckduckgo, or more directly @yegg or @__nil

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Thursday, October 20, 2011 7:52:38 AM

By the way something that is perhaps getting missed with the focus on DDG's great features is the privacy stuff and lack of filtered results.

And if you aren't sure what the filtering is all about, do watch:
http://www.thefilterbubble.com/ted-talk

exterminans # Thursday, October 20, 2011 8:07:52 AM

This is now on Hacker News.

http://news.ycombinator.com

Specifically:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3133765

Robert Jacobsenrobertj # Thursday, October 20, 2011 8:40:53 AM

Originally posted by Chas4:

I have over 23 custom searches

Only 23? I've got 61

FransFrenzie # Thursday, October 20, 2011 8:50:31 AM

Originally posted by Robert Jacobsen:

Originally posted by Chas4:
I have over 23 custom searches
Only 23? I've got 61

Wow. I did a quick tally and I seem to have 26, so 61's quite a bit.

That said, I have a fair amount of nicknames, some of which I could probably change into custom searches if I wanted to.

Ruarí Ødegaardruario # Thursday, October 20, 2011 8:58:43 AM

Just to be clear as I have seen some confusion in the Hacker News link. This is not the default search engine. It has just been added to the pre-provided list of search engines.

That said you can easily make it default by going into "Manage search engines" in the list drop down.

hundredorzero # Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:11:45 PM

I have been using DDG since i read Ruarí's tweet about it.

Charles SchlossChas4 # Thursday, October 20, 2011 4:45:35 PM

Originally posted by robertj:

Only 23? I've got 61

I tell people and that thought that was a lot lol, now I can saw I know people with more

Unregistered user # Thursday, October 20, 2011 6:21:31 PM

Schwabe writes: The great thing is, by using DDG as your default, if you do want to search Google you can by typing !g

hundredorzero # Thursday, October 20, 2011 10:12:41 PM

Originally posted by Chas4:

I tell people and that thought that was a lot lol, now I can saw I know people with more

Yeah. I have 67 at the moment. and about a dozen are yet to be added.

hundredorzero # Thursday, October 20, 2011 10:15:54 PM

Since yesterday morning, ddg have simply been not working at all. No matter what i search, I get the following results, and the page keep refreshing.
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/3748/duckduckgo.png -

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Friday, October 21, 2011 2:16:11 AM

Pretty awesome - though I've already been grooving on Private Tabs for that extra protection.

FransFrenzie # Friday, October 21, 2011 9:22:42 AM

Btw, I already had a d search keyword (for dictionary.com) and I noticed that DuckDuckGo was also added with a d.

Swapnil RustagiSwapnil99pro # Friday, October 21, 2011 12:57:01 PM

I don't see it.

Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; Edition Indian Local; en) Presto/2.9.168 Version/11.52

metude # Friday, October 21, 2011 1:26:10 PM

Originally posted by hundredorzero:

Since yesterday morning, ddg have simply been not working at all. No matter what i search, I get the following results, and the page keep refreshing.

I don't remember right now which one but an extension causes this error.

jottosson # Friday, October 21, 2011 4:16:58 PM

Interesting that the first thing this privacy knight is doing is sniffing out my browser

Not that it my privacy really gets inflicted, but it's one of those things that simply shouldn't be there.

Unregistered user # Friday, October 21, 2011 4:31:47 PM

Kamalesh writes: I'm trying to create a custom search from the DDG field in Opera Mini 6.0.1 for iPhone. A long-hold on the search field never displays "Create Search" context menu. Bug?

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Friday, October 21, 2011 4:52:52 PM

Great!

Originally posted by Swapnil99pro:

I don't see it.

Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; Edition Indian Local; en) Presto/2.9.168 Version/11.52

It isn't in the pt-BR locale too. :/

Swapnil RustagiSwapnil99pro # Saturday, October 22, 2011 2:26:55 AM

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

It isn't in the pt-BR locale too. :/

Now what does that mean

Satan D. Lucifersupertrol # Saturday, October 22, 2011 6:18:30 AM

I didnt notice this that DDG was added since before 11.52 i have DDG added to the custom searches already and its my default search than google

damn..im late

Шуйский Николай [krigstask, Ŝtérkrìg]Sterkrig # Saturday, October 22, 2011 8:45:28 AM

Is there any difference for Opera Software if I use provided search engine from search.ini instead of creating it myself? I mean, are any referral payments (based on `&source=opera` in URL) involved or something like that?

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Saturday, October 22, 2011 10:17:03 PM

Originally posted by Swapnil99pro:

Originally posted by rafaelluik:
It isn't in the pt-BR locale too. :/
Now what does that mean

You commented you didn't get it on the Indian version, I'm telling you DDG wasn't added to the Brazilian Portuguese localization too (locale = the folder on Opera installation folder where you can see the variety of default search.ini, speeddial.ini, etc based on location).

According to the official announcement right now it is in the US, UK and Int'l English versions.

slackwrdave # Sunday, October 23, 2011 2:44:50 PM

I think this has been a good move by Opera to put this search engine in the list. I was aware of duckduckgo, but didn't take it seriously until all this got me to using it more, and I'm finding it to be good.

Keeping the https in the URL with DuckDuckGo keeps you more private with encryption, also the Duck has a search app on the Android market that I'm finding works well.

Like several others in this thread, I also use ixquick, AKA startpage, but the Duck is starting to be #1 for my searches.

JanGen # Sunday, November 6, 2011 11:51:18 AM

I stumbled upon DuckDuckGo quite a while a go. Liked it, but forgot more or less about until your post. So thx.

Prefer the non javascript version:
https://duckduckgo.com/html/

Unfortunately the `FastForward` spacebar action goes to More Goodies instead of Next Page.

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Tuesday, November 8, 2011 10:33:44 PM

That's a pity. Especially since there are naming cues to help direct the fast-forward behavior.

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Wednesday, November 9, 2011 12:09:33 AM

Originally posted by hellspork:

That's a pity. Especially since there are naming cues to help direct the fast-forward behavior.

Well, but is the website that must implement it on their links!

It's done through the rel attribute.
For example, in the page 2 of a blog:

<a rel="next" href="http://www.blog.com/page/3">Next page</a>

You can check that there's a lot of these specifications, in Opera you have all of them in a bar called Navigation Bar which you can enable if you want.

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Wednesday, November 9, 2011 4:58:36 AM

....it would be so nice if publishers actually used the Author and Copyright info etc, Navigation bar would be so much more useful.

hundredorzero # Friday, November 11, 2011 9:08:44 PM

Originally posted by metude:

I don't remember right now which one but an extension causes this error.

Ok i will try using ddg with extensions disabled, then enable them one by one to know which one causes this error.

Unregistered user # Monday, November 14, 2011 8:08:50 AM

Anonymous writes: I'm waiting for DDG in Opera Mini.

FransFrenzie # Monday, November 14, 2011 8:16:04 AM

Originally posted by anonymous:

I'm waiting for DDG in Opera Mini.

Just add it yourself? Or sync with Opera Link?

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Tuesday, November 15, 2011 10:08:24 AM

Originally posted by hellspork:

Pretty awesome - though I've already been grooving on Private Tabs for that extra protection.

I can't believe I haven't seen this post earlier.
Buddy, private browsing doesn't increase you privacy in any way: it doesn't hide your IP address, it still accept cookies, etc. The only difference is that the cookies, history, cache, etc, data aren't kept on you computer, being deleted after you close the private tab(s) / window(s).

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Wednesday, November 16, 2011 2:50:04 AM

??????? Please to examine in more detail these words that I have written.

I am not hiding from any governments. I use Private Tabs to reduce the amount of "pollution" across domains. Open a Private Tab, log into a site, do a few things on that site. Close all Private Tabs, then open a new Private Tab. Log into a different site, which does not have access to cookies from the other site. Close all Private Tabs. Open a Private Tab, make a few search requests. etc.

I use Private Tabs as a sanity check against individual user search profiling, and other "helpful" data filters. Proxification and other matters are of less importance to me, and I usually do not feel compelled to use any of them.

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Wednesday, November 16, 2011 8:43:59 PM

Ohh, sorry, right, but you didn't explain it earlier and private browsing has almost nothing to do with privacy on the Web (that's cited here and explained on DuckDuckGo's pages). The first part of your explanation makes sense regarding to cookies, but again, the sites can still get your IP address to do individual user search profiling.

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Sunday, November 20, 2011 4:58:15 AM

Well if you log into Facebook ten times from the same user account on the same PC with the same IP address in a 1hr period, each time going directly to the same Facebook game and using up your free turns for the day . . .

Someone may become angry.

hundredorzero # Wednesday, December 7, 2011 11:33:28 PM

Originally posted by metude:

I don't remember right now which one but an extension causes this error.

Somehow the issue was resolved on its own, and now for about 2 weeks i have been using ddg as my primary search engine.

Mike Pupkinkukulza # Monday, January 30, 2012 11:43:09 AM

plz type settings for custom search duckduckgo.com
string like:

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

in Russian Opera didn't add by default

Unregistered user # Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:36:52 AM

Anonymous writes: ok, to all of you who are searching for the stuff to be put in the ddg configuration in opera (gee weez ddg idiot designers, we have opera for some time now with custom search engines and guess what - no f** duck duck in there by default, so it might be nice to put proper info in your help section): Query: q=%s&kh=1&kl=us-en&kp=-1&kg=p (use post method)