Top > Webmaster > 2006 > January > 2006-01-31

Google Toolbar is New and Improved

Google has become the standard in internet search engines and is used by almost everybody everywhere in the world. This past Sunday the company released a new version of the popular Google Toolbar. With lots of new additions and even a business edition, the new Google Toolbar will make surfing the web better and easier than ever. Google Toolbar 4.0 broadens its focus and functionality beyond Google Search, adding four new features: custom buttons, Web-based bookmarks and site-specific search.

The custom buttons allow users to search a favorite site from the toolbar. On a Web page or blog, publishers can create custom buttons that say, "Click this to add our site to your custom toolbar". Those who click will be referred to Google, where they`ll be offered the opportunity to download the toolbar if they haven`t already. The second new feature is bookmarking. While browsers already make it easy to bookmark a page. By clicking on a yellow star on the toolbar, users can save bookmarks to Google`s servers, where they`ll be accessible from an Internet connection, as long as the person has signed in to a Google account.

The search box itself was enhanced with more options: As a query is typed, the toolbar corrects spelling, offers Google Suggestions and shows relevant bookmarks. A Send To button lets toolbar users transmit a link as a Gmail message, SMS or a Blogger post. Google Toolbar Enterprise Edition complies with Microsoft Group Policy, enabling admins to centrally manage access to features and deployment of the toolbar itself. Google plans to make the latest toolbar available in 16 languages by the end of the quarter. Version 4.0 is in beta, but its beta status would be removed in the next two to three months.