Google toolbar 5 review #2

Posted by multippt

Great, after the first review, I’ve got another one to add on. In case you are wondering, Google toolbar 5 is the latest revision in testing for Internet Explorer 6 and above, and can be downloaded here.

Google Find just turned my Internet Explorer into Firefox

Pressing Ctrl+F will no longer bring up a box that Microsoft put in. Rather, it will show up a toolbar at the bottom, similar to Firefox, that allows you to search for text in a page as you type. It will also highlight other occurences of text in the page. Of course, since Firefox already has that, Google doesn’t need to put that. In case you want to go back to the old-fashioned Ctrl+F search box, simply disable the “Find” tool via settings.

“Up one level”, just like Windows Explorer

Looks like Google decided to put in a new featured called “Up one level”. What this does is similar to what Windows Explorer does with a button with the same name. In Windows Explorer,  pressing “Up one level” brings you to a parent folder. In Google’s case, it’s a little different because it is all online. Up one level will bring you to the parent directory (e.g. google.com/webmasters/start to google.com/webmasters). If there are no more parent directories, it will go by sub-domain (e.g. mail.google.com to google.com).

Searchaholic

Google made other aspects of it’s search features available. Now you can easily choose to search at Google code or other stuff via clicking on a button inside the search box. While this is already present in Google toobar 4, Google made the feature more visible, and included a little more search options.

Error 404? No more WTF

Google toolbar helps remedy problems associated with mistyping links. If you have mistyped a page, Google would suggest links that might be where you are trying to reach. Typing google.co will cause Google toolbar to prompt a suggestion for google.com.

Configuration with less hassle

Aside from a change in looks of the configuration manager, Google toolbar now allows you to configure some aspects of the toolbar with more flexibility. It is now easier to shift your custom buttons and reorder them: just drag and drop. No more clicking on the “move up/down” button endlessly. Google has also pre-configured the button to show many more custom buttons that the previous toolbar, exposing some of its lesser known services - now no more looking at “Features” and “More” to get the most of Google toolbar, just go to “Tools” and enable what you need.

My wishlist for Google toolbar 5

Here are some possible improvements Google could have done to it’s new toolbar.

1. Make the PageRank icon larger

It’s so microscopic that I need to zoom in just to see the pixels; the new PageRank meter looks nice, but it is hard to see the values.

2. Allow reorder of “tools”

While custom buttons can be reordered, tools can’t. Reordering them will allow you to organise your tools. Show/hide is no longer just an option.

3. Allow separators for custom buttons

You got separators for your tools, why not custom buttons? Separators help split your buttons into groups.

4. Fix that PageRank information glitch

“Current Page is not ranked” is different from “No PageRank information for this page”: It is a matter of whether the page is penalized or not!

—

So that’s about the second review of Google toolbar 5. If you would want to view the earlier one, it is right here.

Google toolbar 5 - beta

Posted by multippt

Google has silently dished out yet another update to its Google toolbar. Since it is in beta, always proceed with caution, though maybe in Google’s case, all betas are fairly stable enough (who says GMail can’t stay in beta for 2 years?). You can get the toolbar from this page. This toolbar is only available to Internet Explorer users.

Interface 

This beta seems to change quite a few usual things compared to the previous one. For one, the icons do look more nicer and organised, particular the smaller PageRank icon and separators. Though, the PageRank icon does give a sort of an eyestrain - it’s so tiny and hard to see, one even needs to guess what PR a site has because a unit difference in PR corresponds to a pixel difference (and, a pixel is really small). Overall, the older icons look unchanged, but I guess what concerns more is the features right? Right on to it. More »

phpBB 3 released

Posted by multippt

phpBB 3 has been released and can be downloaded from the phpBB official site. Finally something can be said about free software being just as good as paid ones. For years now phpBB has been considered lower than other forum systems (particularly paid ones) in terms of quality. phpBB 3 marks an important upgrade to a freely available system, similar to going from Wordpress 1.0 to Wordpress 2.0. You may be wondering why I’m harping about this particular release unlike other stuff like SMF - it’s because phpBB 3 is certainly something that has changed significantly from it’s older self.

More »

phpBB 3 - in 3 days time

Posted by multippt

phpBB 3 would be released in a few days time, specifically 13th December, as stated by a phpBB developer. For a few months now, phpBB 3 still remained in the development stages - so with anything that stays “beta” for a long time, expect plenty of upgrades over the previous versions.

In case if you do not want to go around the web looking at what phpBB is all about, this article shall go into detail of what some big features you should be looking out for.

Visually…

phpBB has changed a lot, when compared to its previous incarnation of phpBB 2. The first thing everyone would notice is the stunningly nice interface - taking it into the same quality as that of VBulletin and IPB. Colors, buttons - almost everything. Well, if you would want to compare image-wise, there you go:

Even the administration interface is revamped, with more stuff being accessible with less clicks.

Features

While phpBB 2 has the basic features a forum needs, phpBB 3 adds features that are far from basic.

Forums, in forums, in forums…

phpBB 3 brings sub-forums to a new level. You can now have sub-forums within sub-forums, within… I guess you get the picture. Forum hyriechy is also fairly easy to use - it is like browsing through directories, except it is a forum.

Theming forums - individually

phpBB 3 now allows you to have different themes for each forum or sub-forum. Pretty neat if you have over 20 templates in your arsenal.

Beyond permissions

phpBB 3 allows you to customize permissions completely. This means that you can limit what capabilities your moderators can do, as well as how much administrative powers admins get. Aside from that, each forum can be customized in a way that permissions for each user or group can be different from others.

Global moderators are a new asset in phpBB. While the concept is not new, and already existed in many forums, I guess it is quite a nice addition.

Moderators can now use a warning system - similar to the one on VBulletin and IPB. No more remembering which member deserves punishment - phpBB takes care of it.

Messages in private

Private messages (PMs) get a nice boost in features - possibly bringing it on par with VBulletin. Don’t treat PMs as PMs, treat them as Email instead, because that is what phpBB is trying to do. PMs can be forwarded, sent to several members, mass emailed (for certain users), be saved as draft - almost like email!

Upgrade in a few clicks

phpBB 3 facilitates the upgrade process - by making an upgrade wizard available. Pretty neat if you do not want to re-install your forum. The wizard can convert other forums to phpBB, a smart move if phpBB wants to increase its share.

—

Of course, it won’t hurt to upgrade to phpBB 3 before it comes out of release candidate status…

GMail chat extends to AIM

Posted by multippt

Google has decided to welcome AIM users to chat, by making it compatible with it. So, you can now welcome your AIM/AOL friends for a nice chat online. Of course, any new feature is great, no matter how small. Google even has a nice image to represent it.

More »

Firefox 2.0.0.11

Posted by multippt

Looks like Firefox just dished out a swift update as soon as releasing Firefox 2.0.0.10.

This update fixes a bug in Firefox 2.0.0.10. As this is a bug fix release, there are no feature releases.

You can update Firefox by checking for updates. Alternatively, you can download Firefox.

Windows service packs release dates

Posted by multippt

It’s great to know that Microsoft is going to release service packs every now and then. These service packs add bug fixes that would ruin anyone’s experience at Microsoft’s products should they come out Here are some preliminary dates mentioned by Microsoft.

Prior to Windows 2000: No longer supported, so no updates.
Windows 2000: No planned updates.
Windows XP: Currently at SP2. SP3 update scheduled at first half of 2008. Annouced on 2006. Beta available to some.
Windows Vista: SP1 update scheduled at first quarter of 2008. Beta available to some.