You may have noticed that the DuckDuckGo goodies page is missing.

Long story short: it didn't make the transition to the new version of DuckDuckGo that we launched in May. We're sorry for this interruption and we are actively working on a replacement. It's going to be a few weeks yet, but it's something we're trying to address in a way that benefits everyone.

Instant answers are a critical component of DuckDuckGo's strategy; since they are open source, we are committed to improving the development process, making it easier to contribute, being more transparent, and finding ways to give contributors and their work wider exposure.

The previous goodies page will be replaced by three related pieces.

An instant answer reference

First, a reference and index to all Instant Answers will itself be implemented as an instant answer. Instead of a separate page, this index will be a search result, exposing IA metadata (descriptions, topics, sources) as part of the normal search process. We will finally be able to search for IAs themselves, a key missing feature of the old goodies page. For example, "app search" (specifics TBD) might show you how to search for apps, that is it will show the information about the App Search (Quixey) Instant Answer, with its example queries, attribution, a screenshot on desktop and mobile, etc.

As an instant answer, this piece will also be open source, allowing it to be maintained by the community. Its relationship to the set of instant answers will allow it to always be up-to-date for every release.

Instant Answer Pages

The second piece we are calling Instant Answer Pages. Each IA will have its own page on the community platform where all the information we have about it (metadata) will be collected and be publicly available. It will have a description of what it does, an automatically generated screenshot, example queries, information about the source (if it uses an external api), developer attribution, links to the code, current issues/bugs, development milestones and status, discussion, and other data.

IA pages will be a key part of the open source IA development process by presenting a clear overview of the process from the idea phase ("wouldn't it be cool if..") to QA and going live on duckduckgo.com.

Summary and Attribution on the results page / Answer Bar

Finally, when an instant answer appears as a result on the answer bar, summary information about the instant answer itself will be available, with a link to the IA page on the community platform. This will bring more exposure to the instant answer, the DuckDuckHack platform, the community, and its individual contributors.

These projects are well underway but we don't yet have anything to show. I'll be posting updates as we make progress. I'm interested in your feedback.