Searching the Web Portal

This page documents the search bar on the Web Portal page.

Check the box to autofocus the search bar

You can make the searchbar focus automatically when the page loads, so you don't have to click it before you type your query. Check the box under Settings.

Type to filter

The first function of the searchbar is to filter the portal page. You've probably discovered this if you've ever typed anything into the search bar.

Filtering uses "and" logic: in order for an item to be shown in the search results, it must match all the words in the search.

The matching is case-insensitive. Search terms are matched against the beginnings of words on the page, so if you search for script, you will find words like "scripts" and "scripting". However, a search for script will not match a word like "JavaScript" — only words that start with "script" will match.

If your search matches the text of a heading on the page, everything under that heading will be shown.

Hint Enter for fast navigation

After typing your search, you can navigate directly to the first link shown on the page by pressing the enter key.

Exception: if your search includes an exclamation point !, pressing enter will search the web instead of navigating to a link. See the section below on using DuckDuckGo bangs.

Web search

You can also use the searchbar to search the web. Several search engines have dedicated buttons, and thousands more can be accessed via DuckDuckGo bangs.

Using DuckDuckGo bangs

If your favorite search engine isn't in the list, you can use a DuckDuckGo bang to invoke it. For example, typing "fruit bat !g" and then pressing enter will search Google for the term "fruit bat."

Shortcuts

I have hard-coded a few shortcuts into the searchbar for my own use. Typing a shortcut and pressing enter takes you directly to the corresponding URL.