« Search Engine Strategies SEM and SEO Training Comes to New York | Main | Yahoo! Sites Rank as Top Display Ad Publisher for March 2009 »
May 12, 2009
AOL Launches Search Toolbar
AOL has released a new search toolbar. It's available for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Flock. The toolbar is dark blue and sort of recedes into the browser, which makes it stand out against other toolbars.
Once the toolbar is installed, the browser relaunches with options for adding buttons to the toolbar. There's a nice selection from social media, news sites, shopping sites, etc.
One thing I did not like is that the installation closed Firefox without prompting me if I wanted all my tabs relaunched. I did. They did not reappear again. On a heavy news day, where a blogger has several tabs open, this would have been a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully, today has been on the light side.
Here's a look at the toolbar:
Related Reading:
Pop Culture and Geography Combine in AOL's New 'Where It's At'
AOL Turns on One Clicks for Pro Athletes
AOL Partners with Grocery Shopping Network for Food Niche
Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 12, 2009 11:56 AM
Comments
Steve Rice May 13, 2009 10:25 AM
Thanks for the comment, Steve. It truly is a well-designed toolbar.
Nathania Johnson May 13, 2009 11:08 AM
Hello,
I am the lead for Browser Toolbars at AOL. Thank you for reviewing our Toolbar, and glad you appreciate the button gallery.
Regarding the issue of closing the browser during install: in our installer, we do indeed warn users that browser windows will be closed (just below the License information). However, it sounds like you (and probably others) did not see that warning text.
Given your feedback, we will indeed revisit the installer UI and make improvements for future versions (probably just reload open tabs like you suggest).
Thanks,
Steve Rice
Browser Toolbars, AOL