Google puts Gadgets on the Toolbar

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 13 Dec 2007 at 12:16

Google has unveiled version 5 of its Toolbar for Internet Explorer, which stores bookmarks and settings online so that users can access them from any PC.

The new Toolbar support Gadgets, which Google says will be particularly useful when interacting with web pages. For instance, the Google Product Search Gadget lets you highlight the name of a product in any page and perform a an instant price comparison.

Google has also included its Notebook application for storing text and image clippings from web pages.

One-click form filling has also been improved, and the AutoFill feature now populates web forms with a single click, using address and contact information saved online. The new version is more accurate, and allows users to preview the filled-in form and maintain multiple profiles.

Error messages have also been replaced with more informative suggestion pages. For instance, mistyped addresses that do not lead to a website present a page of suggested links, rather than a 404 error page.

Google Toolbar 5 provides full keyboard access and support for Windows accessibility API's, and is available for download here. A video demonstration of the new features is available on the Google blog.