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google-power-search

Find more relevant, personalized, and useful results from your Google searches, using Google search's built-in operators.

Try it out!

http://google-power-search.rf.gd/

About our tool:

Finding the correct Google query string is an art in and of itself. We made this productivity tool for those times when you're looking for something specific, but other results keep drowning out what you're looking for. The tool works by using the advanced search operators already built in to Google search. However, for the casual user memorizing these operators can be difficult, so we decided to spend a weekend building this tool! Anyway, if your topic takes on multiple settings, or you're looking for a particular filetype, phrase, or word, this is the tool that is one click away--and it will be there to save the day. Superman's got nothin' on ~Google Power Search~!

Our inspiration:

Back in 2014, one of our team members was sitting bored in his Human Geography class when he noticed a poster on the wall. It touted the use of "Advanced Google Search Operators" for more effective Googling. He stayed after class to study the poster, picking up a few basic operators for his daily use. These operators have helped him to this day, and now, 6 years later, he's back with a team.

It has been said that "Life is like Google: You need to know what you're searching for." Offering customized ways to search the internet, we are set on making this simple tool to make it easier for anyone to do exactly that.

What we learned

how to work better as a team (and remotely, at that!)
rethinking how code changes when its updated all the time
how to more effectively prototype UI before implementation

Challenges we faced

figuring out how to split up the work
design principles
thinking about cross-device compatibility/optimization
relearning syntax
merge conflicts when pushing

Contributors

We are all Bowdoin college students who study computer science. Between the four CS wizards, we have interests in Biology, Education, Theology, History, and Environmental Sustainability.

Joshua "Ball" Lin: Will beat you at ping pong, or will do your dishes.

Rose ":)" Xi: Has perfect pitch, and UI is her bae.

Steven "Likes" Xu: Will copy/paste js functions many times.

Laura "Avatar" Friel: Watches avatar.

Why we built this

We built this for the 2020 Hack the Northeast (HTNE) -- a virtual hackathon.

Built With

Submitted to

Hack the Northeast

Created by

I helped design educational popups (modals) for our website. I also helped make minor edits to our css for concision. It was my first time using html/css/javascript which took some getting used to. But, overall, I was most grateful to work alongside my good friends!

Joshua Lin
I worked on the UI UX parts of the project such as designing the interface and styling the webpage, and also helped with implementing a few features to make the website more responsive, interactive, and aesthetic for users such as providing feedback on hover, making the generated search string rainbow and automatically adjusting it depending on length, as well as a button to clear all inputs.

Rose Xi
I wrote most of the JavaScript used to build the search string, based on user input. I went through many iterations to improve the design and time complexity of methods, no matter how short the loops were, and minimize repeat code. Additionally, I assisted Rose with some design elements.

Laura F
I was the one who was bored in class and saw the poster about Google search operators. For the project, I worked on the frontend and coordinated with Laura on the backend logic. Also probably spent an hour trying to find svg for social media icons--if only we can use our built site!

Steven Xu