Yahoo Search Direct offers suggestions, previews in an instant

Late in 2010, Yahoo began showing a limited number of testers something it called Rich Search Assist. Type a few letters into the search box, and Yahoo displayed a floating pane with suggested search terms in one column and a results preview in the other.

Now, the feature has launched as Yahoo Search Direct. As you can see, the previews also include Yahoo's contextual customizations for topics like weather, gadgets, and sports teams. Future plans for Search Direct including the introduction of sponsored ads in the preview pane -- search for Ford vehicles and you'll see its current promo, for example -- and the integration of Facebook results.

Suggestions and previews appear in a flash, and Search Direct does a good job of simplifying the search process. Head over to search.yahoo.com to take Search Direct for a spin.

Tags: answers, context, contextual, instant, internet, preview, query, search, web, yahoo, yahoo search direct, YahooSearchDirect