In the past few years, search engines have come up with free toolbars as a means of attracting users. Among the toolbars, Google's toolbar was introduced in late 2000. At the end of the day, the Google Toolbar made a splash with no search bar. Earlier there was.
The success and popularity of the Google Toolbar further motivates other search engines in their efforts to create similar toolbars. In 2003, Google upgraded its toolbar, marking the launch of a number of toolbars for other search websites, including AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, Dogpile, HotBot. and Lycos.
Most toolbars are free to download and install. Typically, the toolbar is integrated into the Windows browser or taskbar. In addition to allowing users to quickly access the search box, the toolbar also has powerful features such as highlight the search phrase (highlight), block ads (pop-up) ... Convenient And there are many advantages, but the toolbar also has the disadvantages that the most significant is that the user is easily tied to a single search engine. This dependence inevitably leads to inefficiency in the search and exploitation of information.
Want to use the toolbar, read to take advantage of them. In case you do not want to use a toolbar, the article also shows you the "bad points" of the toolbar for you to note.
Basic toolbar
Almost all toolbars have specific requirements for operating systems and Web browsers. All toolbars, except the HotBot Desk Bar, only work with Internet Explorer (IE 5.0+) and do not work with other browsers such as Netscape, Mozilla, or Opera. Another feature of the toolbar (such as the Google Toolbar's pop-up blocker) only works with IE version 5.5 or higher.
All existing toolbars work on the Windows operating system. Some toolbars (such as AltaVista and Google) can run on Windows 95, but some of the toolbars, such as Ask Jeeves, Teoma, and Dogpile, require Windows 98 or higher. than. In case you use Macintosh, Linux or Unix, you will have to wait or search the toolbar at other providers.
The technical limitations are limited to users, although these limits are not too high - both in terms of browser and operating system. However, in companies that set up strict security environments, downloading and installing toolbars is sometimes not allowed.
In Windows and IE, most toolbars are built into the browser and are located near the top of the page (underneath the link toolbar). In some cases, the toolbar does not automatically appear after the installation, which requires the user to turn it off via the View / Toolbar.
The toolbars have a search box and also offer a number of other features. Toolbar Yahoo! For example, in addition to the quick search box, there are several buttons to access Yahoo's most popular content such as email, games, shopping or finance. To use all these features, the user must sign up for a personal Yahoo account.
Lycos takes a different approach by modifying the "Fast Forward" plug-in into the "Lycos Sidesearch" toolbar. Instead of appearing at the top of the page, Sidesearch "pops up" in the "margin" of the browser window when enabled. This tool is quite powerful because it maintains its presence even when the user is searching for information on other search engines such as Yahoo or Google. However, the weakness of Lycos Sidesearch is the interface and layout is a bit "crude" and offensive in difficult users.
The browser-independent toolbar is the HotBot Desk Bar. Desk Bar still works in Windows environment. But after installing, this toolbar is not attached to the browser but attached directly to the operating system's taskbar. The Desk Bar calls out your default browser every time you return a search result. Therefore, Desk Bar can work with many types of browsers. Another advantage of this toolbar is the simultaneous delivery of both date and time and a number of other graphical elements quite dynamically.
Toolbar for you what?
Each toolbar gives users multiple options. Type the keyword into the search box, press Enter and the result will automatically pop up as if you were working on the search engine's website itself. Therefore, your search will be faster because it does not take time to access the website before searching.
In addition, the majority of search types you can perform in search engines are supported on the toolbar. Ask Jeeves supports image search, information, online dictionaries; Alta Vista supports image search, audio, video, news; Google supports image search, discussion groups, directories, news, Froogle (prices, merchandise), dictionaries, etc.
In general, the "pack" toolbar integrates search features and other features, as well as multiple "hot links" in a minimal amount of space across the interface. The problem with the user is how to detect and make the most of these features.
In addition, the AltaVista, Google and Dogpile toolbars also feature customizable pop-up blocking features. These tools also have links to online dictionaries, conversion tools (units of measurement, currency), contacts, etc. Highlight buttons make it easy for the user to see. Search keyword phrase in the list of results listed.
Ability to find information within a website of the Google Toolbar and AltaVista really convenient for users. Visit a website and feel frustrated because the site you are waiting is no longer in the position? Just enter the keyword into the search box on the toolbar; Instead of clicking Search the Web, select "Current Site" (Google) or "This Site" (AltaVista). Search results sometimes surprise you because search through the toolbar also brings more relevant results than search using the tool of the Website itself.
More user-friendly features include Highlight and Find in Document. After entering a search term, the phrase will appear immediately on the toolbar, and if you click on the keyword the screen will automatically move to the part containing the keyword in the document. Remarkably, this keyword phrase continues to appear in the toolbar on many different pages until a new keyword phrase is entered.
The price of the toolbar
Everything has its price; But the price that users pay when installing the toolbar is not calculated in money. First, the toolbar occupies part of the screen space (though not too large). The more toolbars you use, the less space you have for the browser to display the search results list.
Installing toolbars, your computer is vulnerable to security - depending on how the toolbars are "embedded" in IE. In August 2002, Google had to release an updated version of its toolbar to patch the vulnerability found in the previously released version.
Google Toolbar also gives a warning at the privacy settings stage. Some advanced features, such as displaying Page Rank, also lead to some information in the search process being redirected back to Google's database. In Google's privacy policy ( http://toolbar.google.com/privacy.html ) also states: "Google may collect some information about the sites you are browsing when enhanced features are enabled." In fact, the majority of users trust Google, but also many companies, organizations require high security away from the Google toolbar because of this feature.
Switch to the Dogpile toolbar and the WebCrawler toolbar. During the installation, the user is selected "using Dogpile (or WebCrawler) when the browser can not find the specified information" (use Dogpile / WebCrawler when the browser can not find a site). In other words, when you enter a website address the address bar of IE, if the browser can not find the corresponding website or server that website has no reply - your request will be automatically transferred. to Dogpile's search engine. The tricky part of choosing this feature is that in case you do not want to wait for the "boot" Dogpile, the only way is to completely uninstall the toolbar.
The last but notable point is that using a toolbar often "bundles" your search results in a single search engine. The question is why you have to visit another search site while right outside the screen you have a search box that you think is convenient?
Use or not? You are still the decider
You have seen alongside the advantages, the toolbar also has the disadvantages can not be ignored. Some say that the toolbar is just a form of advertising for search engines. Google Toolbar, AltaVista, or Dogpile provide pop-up blocking, and they also ingeniously incorporate advertising information into their results. Whether using the toolbar or not, the decision still depends on your interests and goals while surfing the web.
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