Google Toolbar 6 with Quick Search Box

Google Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer, released in beta today, doesn't have too many new features: the integration with Google Notebook has been removed, the "new tab" page from Google Chrome is displayed when you open a new tab and there's a completely unrelated application bundled with the toolbar. Quick Search Box is already available for iPhone and Mac and now it's part of Google Toolbar 6.


The new application can be launched by clicking on the Google logo on the taskbar or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Space. It combines a program launcher with a search box and it shows suggestions, web addresses and results for simple calculations.

"Sometimes, multi-tasking on the computer can be a maddening process if you have to constantly switch between different programs and files. Try using the Quick Search Box: it lets you easily search both your computer and the Web from a slick-looking search box that comes up only when you need it," explains Google.

Quick Search Box is similar to the homonymous feature from Google Desktop, which only shows results from your computer. It borrows the mix of search suggestions and navigation predictions from Chrome's Omnibox, while opening web pages in your default browser.

Google should have released Quick Search Box as a separate application or in a future version of Google Desktop. As it looks now, Quick Search Box doesn't offer enough functionality to replace Windows Vista's search box or application launchers like Launchy, the new feature will certainly confuse Google Desktop users and it's not very clear what's the connection with Google Toolbar.

Google Search Pages Load Faster if You Use Google Toolbar

Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer implemented Shared Dictionary Compression over HTTP (SDCH), a technique that speeds up loading web pages. According to Google's proposal (PDF), SDCH is "an HTTP/1.1-compatible extension that supports inter-response data compression by means of a reference dictionary shared between user agent and server".

The proposal explains that "retrieving a set of HTML pages with the same header, footer, inlined JavaScript and CSS requires the retransmission of the same data multiple times. [SDCH is] a compression technique that leverages this crosspayload redundancy."

One of the sites that benefit from this extension is google.com and Google decided to add support for SDCH in Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.



A Google help page provides a way to remove the feature by disabling the "Google Dictionary Compression sdch" add-on, corresponding to the file fastsearch.dll from Google Toolbar's main directory. There's even an example when the dictionary compression doesn't work well.

The developer versions of Google Chrome implement SDCH as well. Here's an example of dictionary for google.com.

Chrome's New Tab Page in Firefox

The latest update of Google Toolbar 5 for Firefox added the "new tab" page from Chrome. When you open a new tab, the page shows 9 thumbnails of the most frequently visited pages, recent bookmarks and pages from recently closed tabs.

Unlike the similar feature from Google Chrome, you can disable the page and you can remove the thumbnails you don't like.


The goal of "new tab" page is to present a list of pages you are likely to visit, but I'm not sure that it's actually useful. Opera's speed dial lets you pick the pages and this could be a better approach.

"The new tab page is the default starting point for all tabs - it is designed to get the user where they want to go, and is not meant to be an information resource like the user's home page; that is, the new tab page is not intended to be a destination, but rather a jumping-off point to other destinations - we strongly want to avoid cognitive load and distractions for the user, especially those creating new tabs for other purposes," explains Google.

If you like the feature from Chrome, but your main browser is Firefox, "new tab" page is now included in Google Toolbar. You can also try an extension that brings Opera's speed dial to Firefox.

{ Thanks, Hebbet. }

Toolbar, Gears, Chrome

Launched in December 2000, Google Toolbar started as a way to add features that were missing from Internet Explorer. Users had to visit Google's homepage to perform a search and the toolbar improved the experience by adding a search box to the browser. In the next versions, the toolbar added query suggestions, a pop-up blocker, a spell checker and other features that later became part of most modern browsers.

In May 2007, Google launched a plug-in that made browsers more powerful by integrating advanced features like offline storage, local database, location services. Google Gears added invisible features that allowed web applications to become more responsive and to work even offline.

The trouble with Google Toolbar and Gears was that users had to install them separately, the browser integration wasn't very smooth and there were many other things that could improve web browsing, but can't be added using a plug-in. A better JavaScript engine, a more reliable browser that crashed less, a fast and simple interface - it's hard to make all these things happen without building a new browser. If Google Toolbar made it easier to search using Google, Chrome encourages to use the web more because the browser loads instantly, you can find web pages faster and you spend less time waiting for pages to load.

A press release from 2000 explained that "Google exists to provide the world's best Internet search experience. Google accomplishes this for millions of users daily by delivering a powerful, fast, and easy way to find the most relevant information available." Google changed the scope of the mission from improving the way you search the web to improving the way you experience the web. A better browser, along with a faster Internet connection, great web applications and an open environment that encourages innovation bring more Internet users and, as a consequence, more Google users.

Google Toolbar 5 for Firefox

If you liked Google Toolbar 5 for Internet Explorer, but you didn't want to use Microsoft's browser, there's now a version for Firefox that includes similar features: support for Google gadgets, integration with Google Notebook, multiple profiles for AutoFill and synchronized settings.


The Firefox version doesn't include all the features that are available in Google Toolbar 5 for IE: there's no find bar, pop-up blocker, Browse by Name because Firefox already has these features. Customizable layouts, highlighting search terms, Word Find and Google Docs integration are the four Firefox-only features.


If you use Google Toolbar on multiple computers, enable synchronization to save AutoFill profiles, custom button and other settings to a Google account. Since bookmarks and notes are saved to the same Google account, you'll see the same Google Toolbar anywhere you go.

Google Toolbar 5 for Firefox - http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT5/

Find the Email Addresses from a Page with Google Toolbar

Google Toolbar has a useful feature called AutoLink which detects the content from a page that follows some predefined patterns and adds links to pages that offer more information. AutoLink detects US addresses, UPS tracking numbers, International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) and Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) and links to relevant pages from sites like Google Maps, Amazon or CarFax. Despite its name, AutoLink adds the links only after you click on the Google Toolbar button and also shows the links in a drop-down menu.

The latest version of the Google Toolbar for IE (Google Toolbar 5) adds two new patterns: email addresses and URLs. If you click on AutoLink, Google Toolbar will transform into links all the email addresses and the web addresses from a page. You can click on the button again to highlight the content that has been detected, but a better idea is to see all the results in a drop-down.


According to the privacy policy, "AutoLink works by sending Google page text (such as addresses or ISBN numbers) for which AutoLink information is available." I noticed that Google Toolbar sends the address of the page to Google's servers, probably for detecting physical addresses, since everything else can be performed locally.

In 2005, when AutoLink became a part of Google Toolbar 3, many people complained that Google changes the content of web pages, but they ignored that users need to click on a button to add the links. It's also worthwhile to mention that you can change the services that are linked using this feature and that Google doesn't make money from referrals.

Google Calendar Buttons

I don't know if there are many useful buttons for Google Toolbar, but there's a Google Calendar button that offers a lot of features for its size.

1. You can use it as a shortcut for Google Calendar. Just click on the button, instead of trying to find Google Calendar in the list of bookmark or typing the first letters of its URL in the address bar.

2. Click on the small arrow next to Google Calendar's logo to see a list of upcoming events from your main calendar. If you select an event, you'll be able to read the description and make some changes.


3. Add events to your main calendar by typing the text in Google Toolbar's search box and then clicking on the calendar button. Unfortunately, Google doesn't add the event to your calendar, it only prefills a form with information from your request.

4. You can also add events by selecting some text from a web page and clicking on the calendar button (alternatively, right-click and select Send to > Google Calendar). Google Calendar to parse a lot of complicated text, including the one illustrated below:


For a visual representation of your calendars, you can add the Google Calendar gadget to the toolbar. The gadgets shows events from any number of your calendars and doesn't open a web page when you add an event.