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Fine tune_Web_Research_with_Toolbars
| Fine-tune Web Research with Toolbars
Toolbar - what is it?
In most cases, a toolbar is like a main menu-bar residing
alongside in popular browsers, usually Microsoft's Internet
Explorer. The toolbar is termed so because while surfing the
net, it provides a viewer many options that aim at bringing
focus to and fine-tune browsing. Toolbars of various hues are
available free of cost, including one from Google, though
there're some like Internet Research Toolbar, who offer toolbars
at a cost.
Does toolbar help?
For people who believe information is invaluable, a toolbar is
of great help. Nobody denies there is a wealth of information
available on the world-wide-web. Yet, to many, getting precise
information is more often than not a frustrating experience. If
you think search engine is the only answer to your online
queries, think again. The fact is search engines do provide
*searching* answers, but perhaps you need some more....something
more accurate and relevant. That is to say, you'd need to
fine-tune your searches again and again. And this is where the
toolbars come as great help. Toolbars do not eliminate the pain
of searching....No, it only assists in cutting down your
browsing time so you can devote more time to do what you want to
with the information collected.
There is a subtle difference in the working of various toolbars.
Thus, while search toolbars enable searching in your favorite
search engines directly, meta search utilities allow searching
multiple search engines simultaneously. In today's story, we'll
explore about 10 toolbars of repute and the *tools* each of them
offer. In the next issue, 8 more toolbars will be discussed.
Hopefully, questions like *Do I need a toolbar?*, *Is there a
toolbar for me?*, *Which toolbar offers the most?*, etc. will
get resolved to one's satisfaction.
Teoma SearchBar http://sp.ask.com/docs eoma oolbar/
Dynamically upgradable (meaning, new features are automatically
upgraded), Teoma Search Bar offers direct search results from
Teoma search engine. Other than allowing dictionary look-up and
ability to highlight search terms (different colors for
different words / word combinations) in the search pages, Teoma
Search Bar also provides for easy e-mailing the search page with
the click of a button.
AskJeeves Toolbar http://sp.ask.com/docs oolbar/helpbuttons.html
Like Teoma, AskJeeves Toolbar too is dynamically upgradable.
There are many tools on offer, such as Search Ask (Ask Jeeves
search results), Search News (news headlines), Search Weather,
Search Dictionary, Get Map (of any location within USA), etc.
Highlighting search terms and emailing search page too are
available.
Groowe Toolbar http://www.groowe.com/ http://www.pagetracer.com/
Now with version 1.2 (June 4, 2003), Groowe toolbar is proving a
popular choice. Query your term fast and easy in many search
engines and directories, viz. Google, Yahoo, AllTheWeb, MSN,
Teoma, AltaVista and more. Browse categories and directories of
search engines with minimum fuss. Image search, audio search,
video search --and what not-- are all provided by Groowe as also
options to search jobs, downloads and shopping sites. A very
helpful toolbar indeed.
UltraBar IE Toolbar http://www.ultrabar.com/
UltraBar offers 3 versions, one free, the other two paid
versions, namely UltraBar Co-Brand and Ultrabar Private Label.
UltraBar has many similarities with Google Toolbar, like
highlighting search terms, jumping to selected search term, etc.
The UltraBar options is a good tool. One can add more search
engines than what are presently offered, and change the
appearance of toolbar buttons as well.
Yahoo! Companion http://companion.yahoo.com/
Companion allows toolbar to be personalized with one's favorite
Yahoo! services and also providing supports like searching
Yahoo!, Yahoo! mail alert, etc.
SearchHippo Toolbar http://www.searchhippo.com oolbar/
Meant for IE, SearchHippo Toolbar offers *HipRank*, which is
akin to Google's PageRank or Alexa's Traffic Rank. HipRank
provides values within 0 to 100 range, higher values for a
webpage meaning higher traffic levels. The toolbar allows
customization and also offers SMS messaging that permits sending
a webpage straight from browser to your friends' phone, pager,
or email. SearchHippo says in the US the toolbar's *SMS*
facility automatically converts friends' phone numbers into
their carrier and location.
Dave's Quick Search Deskbar http://sourceforge.net/projects/dqsd
http://www.dqsd.net/
Dave's QSD is in fact an add-on for Windows Desktop Taskbar,
that allows quick search in most important search engines and
has useful built-in tools like a clock, calculator, currency
converter, calendar, translation facility and more. The toolbar
is available at SourceForge under GPL and allows adding own
functionality. In fact, HotBot Quick Search Deskbar is based on
Dave's Quick Search Deskbar.
Googlebar http://googlebar.mozdev.org/
Mozdev's Googlebar levels the playing field in that it emulates
Google's toolbar for Netscape/Mozilla browsers. Mozdev also
provides emulation of Yahoo! Companion toolbar in Mozilla
(http://companion.mozdev.org/).
Alexa Toolbar http://download.alexa.com/
One of our favorites is Alexa Toolbar. Alexa provides search
results in Google search engine only, but other toolbar features
are quite helpful. For example, for any website being seen in
the browser, Alexa instantly provides its traffic rank (which in
fact is 3 months average). Clicking the link will take to
Alexa's webpage where more details about the website are
available, including incoming links, more traffic information
and much much more. Another good about Alexa toolbar is its
showing links to some more websites that are similar to the one
being presently viewed. Highly recommended.
Google Toolbar http:/ oolbar.google.com/
Arguably the most-used of its type, Google Toolbar is operable
only in IE browsers and available in many languages. The Toolbar
Options allow customizing the layout of toolbar as one wishes.
Among many features Google Toolbar offers are Google Search,
Search Site, PageRank, Page Info and Word Find. Page Info shows
links that connect to the webpage being viewed as also similar
other webpages, besides a cached snapshot of the webpage. For
full detail about Google Toolbar, view the help page located at
http:/ oolbar.google.com/help.html. In the article, *Maximum
Google*
[http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,110323,00.asp],
PCWorld has provided a good analysis about searching in Google
including information on Google Toolbar. All in all, a Google
Toolbar is a must-have for fine-tuning search options.
PBar Toolbar http://www.pbar.net/
PBar's is a feature-rich toolbar, free for end-users. Armed with
smart tools like *Spy Slayer* (a spyware remover), *Pop-Up Ad
Stopper*, *Privacy Protector* and more, PBar also has mail and
news search, web surfing and advanced search, besides such
useful services as webpage translation, send-email-to-friend
option, terms-highlight, multi-language support, etc. Premium
service offers customized branding and many other options. For
that matter, even free PBar service includes number of choices
for your toolbar. A very useful toolbar indeed.
UCMore Toolbar http://www.ucmore.com/ucmore_toolbar.htm
Like Alexa, UCMore too finds other websites similar and related
to the webpage being viewed. Depending on a search query, UCMore
Toolbar's *Enlightened Searching* displays category-wise related
websites from Google, MSN, Yahoo or any other site.
SearchWolf Meta-Search http://www.trellian.net/search/index.html
A desktop utility, Trellian's SearchWolf provides an easy
interface with multiple options to search one or more search
engines simultaneously without opening your browser. Search
results are listed by page titles of webpages which can then be
sorted and selected for viewing in browser. Detailed report for
a search can also be obtained.
WebFerret Meta-Search http://www.ferretsoft.com/download.htm
A desktop meta-search utility for Windows, WebFerret can also be
installed as an integrated toolbar in IE. Search querries are
looked in several search engines concurrently and the results
can be sorted by webpage name, address, source, and more.
Features like duplicate removal, webpage validation and keyword
suggestions make WebFerret a valuable search-tool. The paid
version, WebFerretPro is designed to search more engines and
directories and even offers a ranking option for the webpages
found by a particular search. Highly recommended.
Copernic Agent Basic
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/agent/basic.html
Like WebFerret, Copernic Agect Basic too has integrated toolbar
for IE. Some of the features include search history in separate
folders, searching found webpages using keywords or boolean
expressions, saving preferred pages, ability to search in more
than 90 search engines in 10 categories, automatic search engine
updating, and more.
Visicom Dynamic Toolbar http:/
oolbar.visicommedia.com/en/products.html
Visicom's dynamic toolbar comes in 2 flavors, Standard and Pro.
The advantage of Visicom dynamic toolbar is that it can be
branded with one's own logo complete with
auto-update/install/uninstall options. Configuration file
enables specifying toolbar features, like menus, links and
buttons.There are more features that can be seen clicking the
link above.
Internet Research Toolbar
http://www.internet-research-toolbar.com/index.html
IRT's strong point is its seamless integration with Flexity
database. Any piece of saved web-information becomes a data
record that can be easily retrieved in need. The data recorded
are not only the meta-data, but page contents as well. IRT's
interface provides easy-to-follow window for the saved contents
making further research much less daunting. IRT is a preferred
choice for those who seek web information to compile essays,
reports, research papers, etc. IRT offers 30-day trial before
buying one.
BestToolBars http://www.besttoolbars.net/
BestToolBars offers customized IE toolbars with many features
for heavy net traffic, usually portals. Source code and full
technical support are also provided.
HydraLinks http://www.hydralinks.com/product_description.htm
iLOR's HydraLinks works behind the scene when browsing. Moving
mouse over a link instantly pops a small window containing 4
options therein. For example, the option *Put in my list*
permits saving the link, image, graphic or an entire page in the
folder *My List* and can be seen immediately or later singly or
all together. *My List* can be emailed too to whom you want to.
To know about more features HydraLinks offers, click the link
above.
This article in full is available online at
http://www.ezypost.com/website_design_articles/web_research_with_
toolbars.htm.
About the author:
Partha Bhattacharya, author of this and other web design and
promotion articles, owns and operates EzyPost.Com offering
pre-designed elegant website templates for only $7.99. To know
more, visit http://www.ezypost.com/ or send an email to
ezypost@rediffmail.com
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