I've always been a fan of an underdog. And I was in love with search engines for last 15 years. For a while I've been using DuckDuckGo as my main engine (for privacy reasons) but at the end, I wan't really happy. It's not bad, I just want to support the underdog. I want the European alternative.

I switched to Mojeek, which is one of the largest (if not the largest) non mainstream engines with own index from Europe. Let me rephrase that. It is the largest non-mainstrem engine with its own index. It is the largest engine from Europe with its own index. I'm a fan, that's what I am saying. Mojeek isn't an upstart, they've been grinding steadily last couple years. First search engine (or so they say) to specify their privacy policy (There's none, they do not store your data and don't care what happens to you)

But I digress. Mojeek is not the topic now. Marginalia search...

Marginalia search is a one-men show build in just last couple years. It has (for being so small) quite a large index and ambitions to enlarging it even more. It favours slightly more the oldschool internet like personal blogs and websites with not much bloat. And it's killing it, surprisingly good.

But there is no simple way of adding it to your search engine list in firefox. So, here's how to do it:

  1. go to about:preferences (you might want to type it in the URL bar by hand)

  2. Select Search

  3. Scroll down to Search shortcuts

  4. Click Add

  5. Let Search engine name be Marginalia Search

  6. Let Engine URL be "https://search.marginalia.nu/search?query=python+cheatsheat&js=&adtech=&searchTitle=&profile=&recent="

  7. And set alias to something cute like @marg

  8. Click add engine and just enjoy

Marginalia search engine might not be (yet) for everything and anything, but using it, spreading word about it and maybe even supporting it financially is greatly appreciated (I hope).

Oh and lest I forget, it is opensource (not that I know of any other instance running it)