[How to] Add search provider in Internet Explorer?

If you use Internet Explorer 7+ (for whatever may be the reason), here is a piece of information for you to add search providers in your browser. Microsoft introduces the search box in its browser starting version 7. It has also started following OpenSearch XML standards so that anyone can write a search add-on for their websites and do the search right from the browser. Check out my post on the same for Firefox users here.

For Users

As an user, in IE, adding a new search provider is pretty easy than in Firefox. Microsoft has provided a list of known search providers. To add a custom search provider, just pay a visit to Microsoft's search provider site and fill in the details shown in the screenshot below. And, that is it, you are done!! :-)


For Admins
To allow the users to add the search add-on from the web page, web admins need to create the OpenSearch XML file containing the above said information and the same needs to be published in the head section of the web page. Admins, again, have the luxury of generating the XML from the same dialog.

There are more than one way to do it. Explore the other possibilities.

--Varun