Question

Is it possible to create a browser extension which can change where the user is taken?

I.E. If the user puts in a certain prefix or symbol the browser will not attempt to go to the address supposedly determined by the rest of the string or search Google, etc. for the rest of the string?

E.G. YT:sdfs232 would resolve to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdfs232. I’m not specifically looking to do that, it’s just an example.

Answer 1

What your looking for is called a URL Scheme. http, ftp, ssl are all URL Schemes and you can define your own on any platform you want.

This is possible, and is used quite a lot by for example by IPhone apps to launch another iphone app from a browser window when the user clicks on a link. Thats how the iphone jumps from safari to itunes app.

More details here including most common schemes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URI_scheme

This link gives basic info on registering a scheme on windows

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/aa767914(v=vs.85).aspx

Ususally they are used to open a seperate application though rather than simply a differnt url, but you could do what you want with a plugin.