Smaaz’s Blog

Google Announces Launch of Google Toolbar 5

December 12th, 2007

Today Google announced the latest version of Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The beta version is now available in US-English at http://toolbar.google.com/T5. This release is about improving the way the millions of Toolbar users can engage with content on the web and personalize the browser experience.

Google Toolbar now lets you:

• Add Google Gadgets
• Fill in forms with a single click
• Access your Toolbar from any computer
• Clip and collect content as you browse
• Get suggestions for broken links
• Add your favorite Google Gadgets

Google made a number of announcements over the last few months about Google Gadgets to make them universally available and today’s release is no exception. Universal Google Gadgets now work from Google Toolbar and give users access to additional tools, functionality and content right from the browser. For developers, Google Toolbar is now an additional channel to distribute gadgets, especially ones designed to interact with the websites users visit.

For example, one is the Google Product Search gadget. After adding this gadget, users can select the name of a product on any web page, hit the ’shopping cart’ button on the Google Toolbar, and see purchase options for that item sorted by price. Users can click on any search result link to go directly to the merchant’s site.

Fill in forms with a click

Holiday online shopping is also easier with the Toolbar’s AutoFill feature, which lets users fill out web forms with a single click using address and contact information saved with the Toolbar. This new version has better accuracy, allows users to preview the filled-in form and even maintain multiple profiles. For example, someone who gets packages shipped to both home and office can set up a different profile for each address.

Access your Toolbar from any computer

Now Toolbar settings are not locked to a single computer: users can save them online and access bookmarks, custom buttons and other preferences from any Google Toolbar. Users who move between home and office, or are installing Toolbar on a new computer, can retrieve all their settings instantly by signing in to their Google Account.

Clip and collect content as you browse

Saving links is a great way to be able to keep track of key pages, and now with Google Notebook as part of Toolbar, users can collect, organize and share more information from the web including text and images. This integration makes it easier and more efficient to do all kinds Internet research from planning a vacation to comparison shopping.

Get suggestions for broken links

Instead of getting the usual 404 or DNS error page if they mistype a web address or if a site is down, users will see suggestions for top related pages. This feature is similar to the “did you mean?” function when you do a Google search.

This new version of Google Toolbar 5 also includes full keyboard access and support for Windows accessibility API’s.

Entry Filed under: Google