The new tab feature finally comes to IE users as well

Mar 3, 2009 06:46 GMT  ·  By

It is a well-known fact that the team developing and maintaining Google Toolbar has always focused on enhancing their users' web experience. At the beginning, they strove to make search a very accessible function, and this endeavor led to the appearance of Google Bookmarks, search suggestions, Autofill, as well as Custom Buttons and gadgets. Lately, they have decided to put the focus back on the primary feature and optimize search and navigation with the release of Google Toolbar 6 Beta.

The most important and innovative element included in this release is the Quick Search Box that will enable users to make use of the search functionality even when they are not using a browser. A simple mouse click on the Google logo from the taskbar will make it appear (or you can press Ctrl+Space if you prefer keyboard shortcuts). As soon as you start entering the phrase or the keyword you are interested in, the Quick Search Box will offer search and website suggestions, display relevant bookmarks or permit you to launch specific applications right from the search box. Furthermore, the more you will be using Quick Search Box, the more customized it will get, and will provide more accurate results – for example, you will only need to type a few characters in order to locate and launch one of your favorite webpages.

Another line of improvement was the suggest functionality already integrated in the Toolbar, which can now bring elements from the Google result page straight into the toolbar. The Beta release is experimenting with providing high-quality website suggestions and links as you type your keywords, and you can browse to them with a simple mouse click.

Last but not least, Google Toolbar 6 Beta finally brings all Internet Explorer users the new tab feature (already integrated in the Firefox Toolbar for a few weeks). Using this innovation, people will be able to easily access recently closed tabs, view the bookmarks or launch the most popular sites. They will be able to even edit the list of the most visited websites and enjoy the security that all the data is stored locally, within the browser, without any data being sent back to Google. Of course, those who want to view the 'about:blank' page when opening a new tab will have the liberty to do so in the Settings menu.

Google Toolbar 6 Beta can be downloaded from Softpedia, via this link.