SearchMonkey is taking another step in its evolution with the public launch of the Yahoo! Search Gallery. Starting today, users and developers can visit the Search Gallery by clicking the "Customize" dropdown from the search results page. Today also marks the first day that developers and site owners can begin sharing applications, regardless of whether they've been approved for the gallery, by adding links to their app's page on their sites.

Once inside the Gallery, users can view and add apps built on the SearchMonkey platform by developers, site owners and Yahoo!.

The Gallery is still in beta, but there are already a number of really useful apps included. We expect the number and variety of apps to grow significantly with time. In the meantime, here is an example created by the developer community:

One third party developer, Marco Vitanza, designed this Infobar, which annotates blogspot.com search results with links to the 10 most recent posts from the corresponding blog.

This Enhanced Result from HowStuffWorks.com does just what you'd expect; it gives you the basics on how things work, from car engines to the Internet.

The launch of the Yahoo! Search Gallery is just the first step in making SearchMonkey applications available and easy to use for consumers. This is the first phase of a larger plan to provide opportunities for viral distribution of SearchMonkey apps. We're continuing to develop new ways to surface and share useful and high-performance applications in users' search experience and more broadly on the web, so expect more in the near future.

In the meantime, let us know what you think of the Gallery in the comments below. And, don't forget about the SearchMonkey Developer Challenge. Developers have until June 14th to submit applications in one of four categories for a chance to win cash (and bragging rights).

Amit Kumar
Director, Product Management
Yahoo! Search