DDG is excellent for programming questions/how-tos. It shows popular StackOverflow questions inline[1]. For Python, it shows Python/NumPy/SciPy documentation inline as well[2]. It may do this for other languages, but I have not witnessed it.
DDG also has a great inline weather "app" using DarkSky (which is an underrated weather site, IMO)[3]. Searching for businesses/restaurants shows a mini map ala OpenStreetMap (or other providers if you choose) and business information from Yelp[4].
DDG also has a community-driven program to add more search features, called DuckDuckHack[5]. I believe all (at least most) of the features I shared above came through that program. A list of all "Instant Answers" can be found here[6].
Need to fallback to Google? (I personally never have.) There's "bangs" for alternative search engines and popular sites[7].
Make the switch. You'll be pleasantly surprised how easy and refreshing it will be.
[1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=python+sort+a+list+of+strings
[2]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=numpy+sum
[3]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=weather
[4]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=exploratorium+sf
[5]: https://duckduckhack.com/
[6]: https://duck.co/ia
I can't even count the number of times I've searched for something (usually semi-obscure errors) on DDG and come up dry, only to enter the exact same query on Google and the first or second result will have the answer I needed :(
Moreover, you can type in things like "git cheatsheet" or "tmux cheatsheet" and it will show you inline a whole lot of basic commands with short descriptions that you can just keep there and reference.
However, it is way behind Google in localized searches. Unlike you, I am not satisfied with its results for finding places in my location, but this can be also related to localization.
Other problems I have experienced are with ambiguous search phrases and or with special formattings. Google is smarter on understanding the context of the search, but unfortunately I cannot give you an example now.
[1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=python+cheatsheet&ia=cheatsheet
About a year ago I tried switching to DDG, but I ended up using the !g operator so often that I just moved back to Google. I never felt comfortable about being so lazy in relation to my convictions (which drive me away from Google), and this is a good impetus to give DDG another serious try.
I have a sizable library in my 1 bedroom apartment. It's about 1500 books. For the record I'll say if you find a local carpenter to work with, you can store a ton of books no matter the space you have. Also use Thriftbooks, I love Amazon but it's amazing how cheap things are on Thriftbooks.
Anyway I am also a DevOps Engineer which means I live and breath technology. I have every Apple product, including Carplay and an Apple Router (hah i view those as pretty niche), I also have a Windows computer because I think the Surface does some cool things. Despite all this tech, I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED how much faster I find answers in books, and particularly reference books. It will really shock you and make you question your world once you realize how much info Google hides from you.
A GREAT field to look into is "Information Architecture". These people are really amazing and you'll see all of them, the entire field (which is extraordinary for an academic discipline) look down on Google. The analogy that comes up time and again is Google is to information what McDonalds is for food, a poor / quick substitute.
Additionally you need to realize that unlike your local library or other sources, Search has been so polluted by marketers (which to be fair is understandable, they go where the customers are) that you really have to question all of the info you've found. Literally every time you search there are literally 10 million marketers trying to get you something else than what you wanted.
I had a friend tell me the other day that "the real Google is Google Scholar". If you're looking for high quality info you can't go wrong there, and you can then head over to www.sci-hub.io or whatever it is and pick up the PDF. Google Scholar gave me tremendous respect for the research colleges and universities put out, and the benefits they've accrued by taking the business out of information.
I have been looking into Searx but it doesn't seem that great, either. I really need to ditch Google though.
Do you know a way to get inline dusk and dawn times (like weather has) for a specific zip code?
At the moment I'd venture it's about a 60/40 split with DuckDuckGo staying on top across all types of searches.
I imagine that is very helpful to developers.
Yes, Google is an ad-supported business. What confidence do you have that DDG won't go the same route?
2. They already do sell their results. The difference is they don't attach names to them
3. And if they for some unforeseen reason do go that same route they're not there and I will continue to use them until they do.
I'm not sure how to make this comment useful other than to ask: what kinds of queries do you find DDG performs better at than Google?
https://www.google.com/search?q=dcss+branch+order
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dcss+branch+order
This isn't a case where I _know_ I only want 2017 results, and so I do the syntax to filter it down automatically. I want all results, but I want to be aware of the timeline of whatever I'm going to click.
You can filter by date though or sort by date in DDG, so making the date visible is probably possible somehow or might be in the future.
StartPage.com is also recommended by privacytools.io
Also, the first result for unzip in DDG is winzip, followed by 7zip. It' not as ambiguous as you think, since almost nobody is curious for the general definition of a semi-common word.
Also, Google keeps me in a Canada bubble which I also dislike.
1. Put duck duck go as the default browser on your phone
2. Learn the bang paths. Realize that you still may have to fall back to google .
3. Once you have mastered the bang paths start targeting your search queries
4. Realize you can’t live without bang paths
5. You should now be motivated to use duck duck go exclusively .
I am now interested in bang paths and feel woefully ignorant. can you elaborate with an example? the definition [0] I found for bang paths tells me I found the wrong item.
[0] https://www.techopedia.com/definition/6138/bang-path A bang path is a mostly obsolete kind of address function that shows each server in a message trajectory over a complex network, for example, the Internet. It is called a bang path because each designated server is separated by an exclamation point, also known as a bang.
EDIT: Question answered [1] I was searching for an alternate meaning and should not have. thank you!
DDG instant answer are excellent, especially for programming.
In work I sometimes use a shared computer in which the default search engine is Google and get annoyed by the badness of Google with providing good instant programming answers.
Still, Google has some pros: - I find it a bit faster to load. - Hebrew results are much better. - Picture results are better. - You can search similar pictures to the ones you have (chrome extension)
Recently I also find myself going straight to YouTube to search certain things...
1. search (via the browser's URL/search field)
2. sigh
3. press ⌘L to return keyboard focus to the browser URL/search field
4. press ⌘← to move the cursor to the beginning of the text
5. enter "!g" and then ↩︎ to re-execute the search using Google
I really do like the idea of a non-creepy search engine. I periodically give DDG another chance. But even more, apparently, I like finding pages and blog posts responsive to my search.
(EDIT: Wow, I learned from this thread that step 4 isn't necessary; the !g can go at the end of the search query. :-D Still doesn't really change anything, though.)
StartPage delivers actual Google search results without the tracking and without the filter bubble.
I don't know if you're still affiliated with StartPage.com but the done thing is to mention that in any posts promoting your company.
If you want Google search results in privacy, use the !s or !sp from DDG to get StartPage.com.
If you want to get Google results in privacy, better to bang into StartPage.com using !s or !sp -- That way you get Google results without the tracking.
DuckDuckGo has !bangs. If you search for "!so javascript", then you just end up on stackoverflow.com with a search term of "javascript". There's dozens (hundreds?) of these !bangs -- including !g if you want to run the search on Google.
So I've installed this extension below for Safari. I use the !bangs in the address bar if I want to go somewhere specific -- !so (stackoverflow), !a (amazon), !y (stock quotes). And, otherwise, it just uses Google search.
a iphone -> searches for iphone on Amazon
w tiger -> searches for tiger on Wikipedia
You can also set up a new search engine/keyword. Example to set up Stack Overflow with the s keyword: https://stackoverflow.com/search?%s
So I can now type 's sort a string in python' and it will take me directly to https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=sort+a+string+in+python
"Shoot, I need the docs for the user Ansible module"
> !ansible user
And it goes straight to the page.
I typically give DDG the first try on a search then I turn to Google/Startpage if I don't get good results. It's been getting way better over time.
The only big change is that now every now and then I would double check the search results with !g if I am not happy with DDG results.
Overall I would say DDG or Google is more about habits and comfort zone than anythting else and Google gives better search results mostly because of the search bubble.
Give it a go, takes a little time before you feel comfortable being away from Google's excellent search engine but I got fedup seeing adverts for things I'd previously browsed on other sites, so adios Google.
Just trying to understand the placement of the exclamation point
my only question though is, why are these bangs so special when google does the same thing with `ebay.com: motorcycle`. Is it mainly the fact that DDG provides more privacy?
That query does not send me to ebay?
It's even clearer with things like wolfram alpha, which aren't indexable but respond to a specific query.
Not the kind of person I want running my "privacy focused crypto anarchist" search engine.
Furthermore, DDG isn't an ad company. DDG occasionally adds 1 well marked ad on the page, and it's not directly targeted to me.
If DDG is tracking me, I certainly can't tell how they're leveraging it. That doesn't mean they aren't, but it's as good an indication I've gotten so far.
Commit to switching for a couple weeks and you'll find that you rely on Google less and less.
I find this very annoying. After years (decades!) of training, my eyes know exactly how far one keypress should scroll. Stop messing with the default scrolling mechanism!
You can add this (and any other setting you tweak) to your browser search bar so you don't have to rely on cookies. In this case, edit the search URL to: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s&kk=-1
I think this is could be a good way to help pay more attention to what you're searching for and results because now that I think about Google searching can be really assumptive and get-the-answer-and-leave at times. Maybe digging deeper than top Y results can be a better learning experience.
The map integration almost never works. I only see a map if I search for a city name but never when I enter any address. I sometimes try to add "maps" as a keyword, which results in google maps being the first result - but it almost always links to a wrong street! (usually in the center of the city, the street number is the one I entered though)
It really helps that I can just stick !g at the front of my query if I think Google might have better results (which it usually does not).
For programming tasks, I think my productivity is a lot higher than it would be had I stuck with Google. DDG's "zero-click answers" are awesome, and are frequently just Stack Overflow answers. Google has tried to do this, too, but I've found it to be a lot less useful.
* Switched from Google Search to DDG or Startpage.com[2] (which is basically a google proxy)
* Moving off Gmail and switching to Yandex.Mail[3].
[1]: https://vivaldi.com/
I only got a very small decrease in productivity at first, but I went back to normal pretty quick. So I'd say it went better than expected.
I really like the !bangs and the instant answers are good enough. I can find, anythings I looking for, using DDG just as fast (if not faster) as I would using Google.
On the occasions that it isn't I either append !g, !s, or !sho to redirect the query to Google, Startpage, or SymbolHound, respectively. There are thousands more and they're huge productivity boosters (!w for wikipedia gets used a lot).
I recently did a few queries where I didn't find anything so I tried google and it got the same irrelevant results (as a category, not the same pages)
A friend of mine is using DDG and whenever I'm over and we search for something on DDG, what we were searching for doesn't show up. Maybe it's Murphy's law, but I'm always mocking him with "search for it on Google" and that usually delivers the result we were looking for.
Source: https://support.startpage.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Artic...
But the rest of the time I use DDG, and I use DDG before trying something else.
I like that Google has like 11 years of my search history saved and can deliver me relevant results. And I don't have to pay anything!
What's there to not like about that?