OpenDNS Adds Browser Shortcuts to Free Service

OpenDNS added a new shortcut feature today to their useful free Internet service that lets you create extensible bookmarks accessible from any browser.

Steve Bass has previously suggested the OpenDNS service for potentially speeding your Internet connection a bit and helping with typos like "pcworld.cmo," and I've been using it at home for a while. Until today, the service was essentially invisible, doing all its work in the background while you use the Internet.

To use shortcuts, you first have to create a free OpenDNS account at opendns.com (you don't need an account for the basic OpenDNS service). Then you can create shortcuts using a bookmarklet that assigns keywords for regularly visited sites.

Type the keyword into the browser's address bar, and you'll go to that site. For example, you could create a shortcut called 'pcw' that would take you to pcworld.com.

Though shortcuts should work with any browser run on any computer where you're logged into your account and set up for the OpenDNS service, using a keyword for a basic bookmark isn't anything spectacular. You can already create keywords for Firefox bookmarks, for instance, and then synchronize your Firefox bookmarks among multiple computers with the excellent Foxmarks add-on.

Shortcuts get interesting by allowing you to streamline searches: for an address, a YouTube video, a filtered Google search that only checks certain sites, what have you. You set up these advanced shortcuts by running a search, and then creating a shortcut that knows which part of the page you searched for.

Afterwards, you can type the shortcut followed by the search term and get a page of results. For example, I created a shortcut called 'pcwgoogle' that runs an advanced Google search for matches on the pcworld.com site that are 3 months old or newer.

Sounds tricky, but it's actually easy to set up shortcuts, even advanced ones like what I describe. If you want to give them a try, here's a mini-guide to enabling and creating advanced shortcuts:

1. Set up your computer to use the OpenDNS service. It's a breeze, and OpenDNS has good instructions online - but you probably don't want to set it up at work without asking your IT folks whether it will break anything.
2. Create an OpenDNS account.
3. Drag and drop the bookmarklet provided by OpenDNS to your bookmarks toolbar (or right-click it to make a regular bookmark).
4. Head to any site, run a sample search if you're setting up an advanced shortcut, and click the new 'OpenDNS Shortcut' bookmarklet. You'll get a pop-up window with shortcut options.
5. Type in a name for your shortcut.
6. To add to-be-substituted search terms, click "Advanced options." From the drop-down box select the term you used in your sample search. For example:





7. Save your search, and you're done.

You can add, delete or edit shortcuts on your account page at opendns.com.

Advanced shortcuts that run searches won't work for every site, only those that show the full search in the URL. For instance, Google Maps doesn't display the search term by default. You can display the URL by clicking 'Link to this page' in the upper right of the map, but if you make a shortcut using the displayed URL, resultant maps won't focus on the right address.

Also, it's worth noting that if you create an account and use shortcuts, you're trusting OpenDNS with more information. The company says it collects and uses aggregate statistics, but doesn't disclose personally identifiable information. Check its privacy policy for more details.

Wondering what OpenDNS gets in return for their free offerings? A little slice of the giant search revenue pie. If you type a non-shortcut or unknown URL into the address bar, you're directed to a Yahoo search for the term.

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