There are a whole lot of weblog posts talking about how there are too many toolbars. I thought this picture would drive the point home. For a decent amount of time (now or previously), I've used google, yahoo, eurekster, dogpile and alexa's toolbars. Alexa was probably one of the first ones to come out with a toolbar, but I imagine google's and yahoo's toolbar are the most popular now. I intend to earnestly try out hotbot's relatively new toolbar to see how the desktop search works. I also plan to try out dogpile's toolbar to see how the rss search works. I'd be interested in anyone's experience with these.
The rest of these toolbars, imho, are just people trying to grab some real estate on my screen. Mediocre or me-too or meta search tools bundled with random other tools like pop-up blockers, etc. They aren't delivering enough value for me to muck up my screen with their toolbars. Go back to the lab, people!
Awhile ago I started to list out features and create a spreadsheet with what toolbar has what feature. I never finished that. Here is a fairly comprehensive list of features, though, if anyone wants to take that on.
Compatible browser and version(eg IE 5+, Mozilla...)
Selectively Block Pop-Up Ads
Searches the following Engines(eg google, yahoo, ask...)
Searches the following Directories(eg dmoz, yahoo...)
Searches the following Paid Inclusion(eg adwords, overture..)
Search Other Sites(?)
Search the site you are visiting
Download File Size
Search When Browser Can't Find a Site
Monitors Sites Visited
Collects information about sites visited
Uses Information to Market to you
Uses Aggregate User Information to Study General Internet Population Statistics
Highlight Text on Pages and Search
Yellow Pages
White Pages
Public Records
The Web
Images
Shopping
Multimedia
News
Files
Search for Message Boards Related to Topic
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Search for Meaning of Acronyms
Horoscopes
Weather
Maps
StockQuotes
Email Page to Friend
Related Links
Site Owner
Site Rank among other sites
Related Links
Share and Read Opinions about other sites
I see the toolbar becoming the "windows start button" for the web. It'll carry the brand of someone we trust, come pre-loaded with the most common tools and be totally customizable.
It is also a way of letting anyone compete in the "browser wars" and makes the browser a commodity business. IE has a near monopoly on it. All browsers are free and there are only a few alternatives. So, there is little incentive or business justification for anyone to innovate there. With toolbars, on the other hand, there is lots of incentive to innovate and have the newest coolest feature (eg search desktop, rss reader) because it drives people back to the search site where they may click on paid ads.
What's everyone think?
a9.com (amazon's new search engine) has a great toolbar
Posted by: Adam | April 24, 2004 at 08:24 PM
you forgot TafBar (www.tafbar.com) in your screenshot.
Posted by: Andrew | April 26, 2004 at 04:55 PM
Hm... I wonder who will be the first to capitalize on this "windows start button" idea and make the toolbar that will end all toolbars...
Where's StumbleUpon? (www.stumbleupon.com)
Posted by: sl | April 29, 2004 at 01:38 PM
All in one : Ultrabar
Posted by: Eric Baillargeon | May 21, 2004 at 11:33 AM
http://www.chrispederick.myacen.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/ is an excellent toolbar; I have it on my browser. It lets you perform just about any webpage query or manipulation that you want, and its functionality is still accessable if you hide it!
Posted by: Tim Wesson | July 30, 2004 at 09:59 AM
http://www.SirSeek.com/Toolbar/ has a complete all-in-one search solution that searches over 150 major search engines and directories...
Posted by: Dave | January 12, 2005 at 03:48 AM