Google: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7. More Cool Google Tools

The Google toolbar is great, but it’s not the last word on useful ways to use Google. In fact, it may not even work with your browser. If you can’t or don’t want to use the toolbar, you can still avoid unnecessary trips to Google’s home page by using browser buttons and sidebars instead. And bookmarklets, little buttons you can add to your browser, can help you perform a host of smart search tricks.

Google also has a bunch of other cool tools. The company has developed a search box for your desktop, for example, and a deskbar that lets you surf without even opening a browser.

Some of these offerings are still experimental, but Google lets you use them and offer feedback.

This chapter covers alternatives to the toolbar, the best of the new Google tools you can test-drive, and other often-neglected tips for Google efficiency—including keyboard shortcuts and secret mouse clicks. It also fills you in on Google Wireless, a special service that lets you use Google on the road using a mobile phone or palmtop with Internet access.

Alternative Search Boxes

A lot of people swear by the Google toolbar. But the Internet is about nothing if not choice, and some of these search tools offer nifty alternatives.

Browser Buttons

If you don’t have the screen room for the Google toolbar (or one of its imitators), or if your browser of choice came out during the Carter administration and doesn’t accommodate a search box, Google’s browser buttons can be a good way to run searches ...