Perhaps I'm not using the search keywords functionality correctly, but in my experience, it works in one of two ways.
- Start typing 'wiki...' and it will autocomplete to http://en.wikipedia.org In order to search that site, I have to left arrow, space, and then type my query. I found that while usually helpful, the autocomplete was occasionally unpredictable/frustrating enough to me that it negated the times it was helpful. Having fine tuned control w/o autocomplete is preferable to me.
- Using the omnibox to enter 'wiki http codes', which will pull up google results. I then have to tab or otherwise use keyboard shortcuts to select the first link, all of which are a worse user experience than the bang syntax to me.
once you start typing wiki, and the autocomplete comes up, you can press tab, and it will search using the wiki search. you're able to add custom search engines (as pointed out by other users), but chrome also picks up on many of these itself
Yeah, that's because you need to set up a search engine keyword in chrome's preferences. It's under 'Basics'->'Manage Search Engines'. After you do that, all it takes is typing a keyword you've defined into the omnibar, a space, and then your query. Works quite well.
- Start typing 'wiki...' and it will autocomplete to http://en.wikipedia.org In order to search that site, I have to left arrow, space, and then type my query. I found that while usually helpful, the autocomplete was occasionally unpredictable/frustrating enough to me that it negated the times it was helpful. Having fine tuned control w/o autocomplete is preferable to me.
- Using the omnibox to enter 'wiki http codes', which will pull up google results. I then have to tab or otherwise use keyboard shortcuts to select the first link, all of which are a worse user experience than the bang syntax to me.