1. Generating your own custom styled search form
2. Fetching the search results on page load rather than the default which requires the Google provided search form to be submitted

This enables you to place your custom styled search form anywhere on your site (for example in a global site header), and when the form is submitted the search results are automatically loaded as soon as the user lands on the search page – as opposed to the default behavior which requires submission of the Google provided search box.

This is a sample global form that I use in my header file, which submits to the url “/search”. I will leave the CSS side to your imagination.

On my search page, the following code displays the Google CSE search box and pre-loads the results which are passed in from PHP’s $_GET. Don’t forget to replace myUniqueID with your Google CSE unique ID.

My teacher told me something thing that really stuck, and it continues to be a good way of kick starting the creative process when I find myself staring aimlessly into space.

The rule is called KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.

The “stupid” part is a reflection of how many of us tend to act out of instinct – so many ideas are floating around that we want to do everything and anything. When a designer sits down and scribbles down how the design will work, perhaps only one person can make sense of it – can you guess who? The user is not stupid, the designer is stupid for expecting others to realise their vision.

Can you think of a top site that does not follow the rule of KISS? Look at Google’s phenomenal growth; once upon a time there was no Google Tools, Google Maps or Google Earth. Despite these tools being generally easy to use, what could be easier than the original Google search design that has barely changed in years? One logo, one search box, one submit button, and a few links at the bottom.

What the other major search engines failed / fail to notice, was that this very simple idea worked. This very simple idea kept people coming back over and over again to something that delivered… Read more