Help & User Guide
🔍 Learn how to use DystO effectively
🏠 Main Interface
Search Box
Enter your search query in the main search field. DystO supports natural language queries, specific terms, and advanced search operators depending on the selected engine.
Search Button
Click the search button or press Enter to execute your search. Results will be fetched from your selected search engine.
⚙️ Settings & Controls
🔍 Search Engine Selector
Google: Comprehensive web search with advanced algorithms
Bing: Microsoft's search engine with image and video integration
Brave: Privacy-focused search with independent indexing
🌐 Language Selector
Choose from 42+ languages. This affects both the interface language and search result localization. You can change the UI language independently from search language preferences.
🌙 Theme Toggle
Switch between light and dark themes. Your preference is saved automatically and applies across all pages. The glass morphism design adapts to your chosen theme.
📱 Search Type Tabs
Text: Standard web search results
Images: Image search with preview and direct links
Videos: Video results with privacy-focused Invidious links
🗑️ Clear Cache & Data
The trash/delete icon clears all DystO cache, cookies, and session data. This resets your preferences (theme, language, engine selection) and clears any stored data, returning DystO to its default state for enhanced privacy.
📋 Search Results
Text Results
Each result shows the title (clickable link), URL, and description snippet. Results are parsed and cleaned from the selected search engine while maintaining relevance and accuracy.
Image Results
Images are displayed with thumbnails, titles, and source information. All images are proxied through DystO's secure image proxy for privacy protection using base64 encoding.
Video Results
Video results include thumbnails, titles, duration, and direct links to privacy-focused Invidious instances instead of YouTube for enhanced privacy.
Wikipedia Integration
Relevant Wikipedia articles appear as information cards with contextual data, supporting multiple languages and providing quick access to encyclopedic information.
🔒 Privacy Features
No Tracking
DystO does not track users, store search history, or create user profiles. All searches are performed server-side with complete anonymity.
Secure Image Proxy
All images are loaded through DystO's proxy server, preventing direct connections to image hosts and protecting your IP address from third-party tracking.
Onion Support
DystO is natively compatible with Tor networks (.onion domains) for maximum anonymity. Access through Tor for enhanced privacy protection.
No JavaScript Tracking
The interface uses pure CSS with minimal JavaScript, ensuring no client-side tracking or fingerprinting occurs during your search sessions.
🚀 Advanced Usage
Search Operators
Use quotes for exact phrases: "privacy search engine"
Use site: to search specific domains: site:example.com privacy
Use - to exclude terms: privacy -facebook
Pagination
Navigate through multiple pages of results using the pagination controls at the bottom of search results. Each page maintains your search preferences and engine selection.
Fallback System
If your selected search engine fails or returns no results, DystO automatically falls back to alternative engines to ensure you always get search results.
Rate Limiting
DystO implements intelligent rate limiting to prevent abuse while ensuring legitimate users have uninterrupted access to search functionality.
🛠️ Troubleshooting
No Results
Try different search terms, check spelling, or switch to a different search engine. The fallback system should automatically try alternative engines if parsing fails.
Slow Loading
Search speed depends on the selected engine and network conditions. Brave searches might be slower due to independent indexing, while Google typically provides faster results.
Images Not Loading
Images are proxied for privacy, which may occasionally cause delays. If images fail to load, try refreshing the page or switching to a different search engine.
Language Issues
Ensure you've selected the correct interface language and search language. Remember that these are independent settings - you can have English interface with French search results.