Google Inc. Monday unveiled a browser plug-in that will enable users to utilize the Google search engine from any page on the Internet.
Dubbed Google Toolbar, the free plug-in integrates with Windows Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher and enables searches on sites without their own search capability. Google said it can quickly highlight and jump to search terms on any Web page.
“The Google Toolbar provides fast access to Google’s best search tools from any Web page on the Internet,” said Larry Page, Google’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “Additionally, the powerful feature set enables users to save time while searching for information.
The Google Toolbar allows users to:
- Search the pages of any site on the Internet, even if it does not have its own search engine
- Automatically locate search terms on any page in place of using the browser’s ‘find’ feature
- Locate search terms on any page with each word highlighted in its own color
- Access Google’s cached version of pages in the event a link is broken or has been taken offline
- Search for related pages
- Automatically determine Web page importance for each page browsed using Google’s PageRank technology
- Search more than 1.3 billion Web pages.
Google plans to add support for Mozilla-based browsers (like Netscape 6.0) “very soon,” according to a company spokesman. He also said the company has plans for multiple languages such as double-byte character sets.
The plug-in is available here.