Toolbar
In a graphical user interface on a computer monitor a toolbar is a panel on which onscreen buttons, icons, menus or other input or output elements are placed. Earlier forms of toolbars were defined by the programmer and had set functions, and thus there was no difference between a toolbar with buttons or just a row of buttons. Most modern programs and operating systems however, allow the end user to modify and customize toolbars to fit their personal needs. Some prominent examples of customizable toolbars are panels of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, functions of which range from expandable menus and buttons for applications, window lists, notification areas, clocks and resource monitors to volume controls and weather report widgets.
Some applications, e.g. graphics editors, allow their toolbars to be detached and moved between windows and other toolbars.
The first toolbar appeared on the Xerox Alto computer in 1973[citation needed].
Toolbars are seen in office suites such as OpenOffice.org, graphics editors and web browsers such as Inkscape and Mozilla Firefox.
Web browser toolbar add-ons
Third-party toolbars for browsers are best known for adding functionality and ease-of-use options to the end user. While the browser itself handles basic browsing navigation (Back, Stop, Reload, etc) using its own toolbars, external toolbars often add additional functionality to browsers (additional search fields, form-fill, links back to popular sites. etc)
Some third party web browser toolbars include:
- Advanced Searchbar
- Alexa Toolbar
- AOL Toolbar
- Google Toolbar
- MSN Toolbar
- Wikipedia Toolbar
- Windows Live Toolbar
- Yahoo! Toolbar
- ChunkIt!
Controversy
While third-party browser toolbars also add functionality for the end user, they are considered by IT professionals[who?] as a White elephant, due to security flaws introduced between the toolbar and browser programs. Moreover, a large number of third party toolbars are made for this express purpose. Posing as Search Bars, these persistent Trojan Horse viruses often act as a "foot in the door" to other viruses and spyware, in addition to bombarding the user with advertisements. Another common attribute of these toolbars is the fact they cannot be disabled or uninstalled by any traditional means, and may require a power user or a computer technician to remove them. Of course, many browser toolbars are harmless.