Which of the following methods do you typically use to access websites that you know about?
(As opposed to searching for new information/websites.)
Please check off only options that you use relatively frequently, but feel free to select more than one if you mix and match methods.
Er…
To whoever chose “Type site name into Google/other search tool”…
Grandma? Is that you?
My “other” method involves that down arrow at the end of my IE address bar, where my frequently visited sites are stored.
I selected “Type URL into URL bar WITHOUT .com/.net/etc suffix” as one of my options, because it’s more or less what I do, which is type the first few letters and the browser throws up the options which I select and it automatically goes to.
jerri - I chose that (among others).
There are a couple reasons I do that:
Simple mistake - I use both the URL and the search bar a lot, and sometimes click on and type into the wrong one. Using the URL as a search bar doesn’t really work in Firefox, but using the search bar as a URL bar works pretty well.
Sometimes I can’t quite remember the spelling or dashes or whatnot in a URL, or more commonly, I can’t quite remember the suffix, but if it’s a reasonably popular website, Google will typically make it the top link in the search results.
I picked “site name into google” as one of my optons but I meant search term not knowing the exact URL. With Chrome its all the same however.
Most of the time I use opera’s speed dial feature to access my bookmarks. I selected “website/homepage that holds your bookmarks” for that.
For sites I go to infrequently, such as checking my bank balance or paying a monthly bill, I google the name of the company. I don’t visit them enough to bookmark them, and I figure google will fix typos and avoid phishing sites for me.
Chrome doesn’t care.
Exactly. Typing URLs into Chrome’s address bar is the same as typing them into Google. Sometimes it screws me up when chrome thinks my (complete, fully formed) url looks fishy and assumed I meant to search it instead.
I basically always type, the only place I really use bookmarks is on my cellphone. This isn’t just for urls – I often start local programs (ones not important enough to be pinned to my taskbar) using the Windows search box too.
Usually I just type part of the url into the address bar and allow autocomplete to do its magic. Sometimes I do use google (either via browser search bar or the site itself). Not sure why that is considered the “grandma” option as it works well and actually tends to give you an extra level of security (you’re WAY less likely to get a phishing site as the first google link for a term, even if you misspell it, than you are if you’re one letter off typing a url into a traditional address bar).
If it’s a .com site, I just type in the main name and hit ctrl-enter.
If it’s a .net, .mil, .org site and other TLDs, I type out the whole thing.
For bookmarked sites, I use my bookmarks. For some pages I can’t be arsed to bookmark or memorize but I know what simple query in Google pulls them up, I just type that into the search box (Firefox) or the URL bar (Chrome).
Most sites that I use I have on the Speed Dial add-on for Firefox/Chrome. Others I usually just type into Google and follow the link.
Yeah, browser auto-complete should be it’s own choice. I mostly just type a few letters from the url or title and Chrome guesses the rest.
Some things I still save in in-browser bookmarks if I think I’ll might want to visit that page some time in the distant future (of course these are synced online, so I’ll have the same bookmarks on all my home and work computers).
I also use ReadItLater for stuff that I want to, well… read later.
I put “other” but probably should have put “type URL without .com” - I also type the first few letters and let the browser give me options. Usually the first option is the one I’m looking for. I use Chrome nowadays, and it will of course send it to Google as a last resort, but the thing FF did/does better is the intelligent searchable bookmarks and browsing history. Which is ironic, seeing as Google is known first and foremost for its search engine.
If I could combine the awesomeness of Chromes bookmark syncing through my google account with Firefox’s bookmark-fu and some of Chromes other advantages, life would be great.
There are lots of sites that just refer to themselves as “whatever” but are too cheap to buy whatever.com so if you haven’t got them bookmarked and you don’t visit them all the time, you kind of have to search for them, to rediscover whether they are actually whatever.us, whatever.org, whatever.it, whatever.co.uk, thewhatever.com or a whatevercorp.com or whatever else they actually are.
Oh damn, now I know I’m not a programmer anymore, I didn’t use “foo” all through that paragraph.
Yeah, part of the reason I posted this poll is because a charity-related site I advise doesn’t own the .COM for it’s name.
Their argument was, IIRC, that folks don’t type in URLs anymore, but that seemed weak to me.
If you’re talking about sites you haven’t already been to, then it depends on how complicated the site name is. Usually I’ll type in the URL if I already know it, but if it’s the name of the organization then I’ll just Google it. I never assume that <X> Organization is immediately going to be at <X>.com. That’s how you get viruses!
I open it up in a new tab and then never, ever close it. If it’s one I visit regularly, anyway; the rest of the time I’m usually following a link off of somewhere else.
For places that I can’t quite remember the URL of and don’t visit regularly, I’ll search for it in Google, having spent too many times trying to remember if The Dragon’s Dungeon is at dragonsdungeon.com, thedragonsdungeon.com, dragons-dungeon.net, tddungeon.com…
Like others I picked option 2 but perhaps should have picked ‘other’ since I also use Chrome and auto complete combined with search.
I only type the full name of places I’m searching for… and often that’s not even necessary.
I picked other, although maybe it should be in-browser bookmarks. I make use of Firefox bookmark keywords. I’ve got this site bookmarked with qt3 as a keyword so that typing qt3 brings me here.
I also use the list of links that pop up by typing only a portion of the site name. Does that count as leaving off the .com/.net/etc? Because that actually leaves off a large chuck of the URL.