All about the SearchMash web mashup, and the MashProxy technology it uses.
Introduction to SearchMash
What it's all about
SearchMash is a web site that adds something extra to Google's search engine. To save you opening links with missing pages, it checks all the pages for you. It gives you a quick preview of the site too, just by hovering the mouse over the link, no new window needed.
Here's a video of it in action!
Here's a video of it in action!
SearchMash Demo
SearchMash Demo
A demonstration of the SearchMash project by Pete Warden, guest starring the cats Piglet and Jackie Chan.
curated content from YouTube
Using SearchMash
A user's guide to SearchMash
To get started with SearchMash, go to the web page http://mashproxy.com. You should see a page divided in half, with the left side saying "Loading...". There should also be a security popup window, asking if you would like to run the MashProxy program. You'll need to agree to this dialog to continue.
SearchMash is built on a securely signed Java applet, and it's fully open-source. For more reasons on why you can trust SearchMash, have a look at the in-depth examination of its security on my blog.
If you don't see the dialog, or if the page doesn't change from "Loading..." after 30 seconds, it's likely you'll need to update your copy of Java. You should download the latest version from Sun and give it another try.
Once the page has loaded, you should see the Google start page in the left hand frame. To get started, put in a search in the main text box as normal, and either hit return or the "Google Search" button.
A standard search results page should appear shortly afterwards on the left. If you wait a couple of seconds, you should see "(Found)" appearing next to some of the search results. This means that the page the link is pointing to is not missing, and has been loaded.
If you hover the mouse cursor over a link that's been found, you should see the page appear in the left hand frame. That means you can look through all the search results with the flick of a wrist, no dealing with multiple windows or going back and forth in the browser.
SearchMash was designed to make searching easier, but not get in the way. You can navigate through google's results pages, and even do new searches, and the checking and previewing tools will keep running in the background.
SearchMash is built on a securely signed Java applet, and it's fully open-source. For more reasons on why you can trust SearchMash, have a look at the in-depth examination of its security on my blog.
If you don't see the dialog, or if the page doesn't change from "Loading..." after 30 seconds, it's likely you'll need to update your copy of Java. You should download the latest version from Sun and give it another try.
Once the page has loaded, you should see the Google start page in the left hand frame. To get started, put in a search in the main text box as normal, and either hit return or the "Google Search" button.
A standard search results page should appear shortly afterwards on the left. If you wait a couple of seconds, you should see "(Found)" appearing next to some of the search results. This means that the page the link is pointing to is not missing, and has been loaded.
If you hover the mouse cursor over a link that's been found, you should see the page appear in the left hand frame. That means you can look through all the search results with the flick of a wrist, no dealing with multiple windows or going back and forth in the browser.
SearchMash was designed to make searching easier, but not get in the way. You can navigate through google's results pages, and even do new searches, and the checking and previewing tools will keep running in the background.
More information
Where you can find out more
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Pete Warden is a British born programmer living in LA. He's worked on many open source projects, including the Freeframe video plugin standard, and th... (more)
