A new build of CoLT is now available, fixing a problem in the custom format translation routine. Links (or any other text) that included encoded characters (%BC for example) could become malformed. Version 2.5.5 corrects this issue. As always, if you see problems, let me know.

A new build of CoLT is now available, bringing the following changes along with it:

• Added Unicode support (custom formats can now include extended characters)
• Added a new custom format variable for inserting tab characters (%B)
• Options are now stored under the more appropriate “extensions.” branch
• Removed a few extraneous menu updates during initialization
• Removed the obsolete contents.rdf files from each localization folder, reducing overall file size
• Changed the minVersion from 1.5 to 3.6
• Changed the maxVersion to 15.*
• Bug Fix: Several registered event listeners were not being removed on shutdown

Let me know if you see any problems with this release.

Since the demise of the official Google toolbar for Firefox, I’ve been getting a number of requests to add the “form auto-fill” and “form spell checking” features from that official toolbar to Googlebar Lite. I will not add either feature to this extension, simply because they are beyond the scope of the extension’s purpose. Neither feature has anything to do with searching the web, which is the sole purpose of Googlebar Lite. If you want these two features, you need to look elsewhere.

Keep in mind that Googlebar Lite existed long before Google offered an official toolbar for Firefox. I created Googlebar Lite as a light-weight alternative to the Googlebar, not as a response to anything Google did. My primary goal with Googlebar Lite has been, and always will be, to keep it as small and bloat-free as possible. Adding features that have nothing to do with using Google’s search platform only add bloat. As such, I will not be implementing them here.

The past two releases had a pretty severe bug impacting people who search in languages that use extended characters. I have resolved the problem, and version 4.8.2 is now available. My apologies for all these bugs. With as much code as I updated, stuff was bound to fall through the cracks, as we’ve now seen. If you spot any more problems, please let me know.

This will be the last version that supports Firefox 3.6.

Hot on the heels of the previous Googlebar Lite release, is version 4.8.1 which includes several bug fixes. Here is the change log for this release:

• Bug Fix: Search terms should no longer mysteriously disappear
• Bug Fix: The “Site to Use” menu in the Googlebar Lite options dialog is now initialized properly in Linux
• Bug Fix: Removed several obsolete function calls that were throwing errors after customizing the toolbar

Googlebar Lite 4.8.0 is now available to download. This release has a ton of changes. As such, if you spot any problems with the release, please let me know. I updated so much that I might have missed something (but hopefully not). Here’s the change log:

• Completely redesigned the options interface and the underlying code
• Added a new option allowing users to disable Google search auto-correct
• Extension options have been moved to the appropriate “extensions.” branch
• Menu items within the up button are no longer updated on every page load, improving performance
• Choices in the search term auto-completion popup menu can now be navigated through with the Tab key
• Several minor performance improvements
• The minimum supported Firefox version has been changed from 2.0 to 3.6
• The maximum supported Firefox version has been changed to 15.*
• Added a Norwegian (nb-NO) localization
• Various locale updates
• Bug Fix: Search terms no longer disappear from the search box when searching over a secure connection
• Bug Fix: Several registered event listeners were not being removed on shutdown
• Bug Fix: Secure searches no longer point to the old “beta” secure search website
• Bug Fix: Corrected a minor bug in the Catalan (ca-AD) locale that affected the Google search site URL

Update (Nov. 13, 2011): The workaround listed below has apparently been removed by Google.

I’ve been receiving a great deal of mail recently asking about why search terms in Googlebar Lite disappear after navigating away from a Google search results page. The short answer is that Google is to blame, and that Googlebar Lite will work around this issue in the next release now fixes this problem. For a longer explanation of what’s really going on, feel free to continue reading.

Google recently mentioned that they would encrypt searches performed by those who are logged into their Google account. One of the changes of this new behavior is that Google no longer passes your search terms on to the website you visit. They claim to be doing this for security reasons, but from my point of view, this only hurts website authors. No longer can a website author see what search terms are bringing logged-in users to their site.

Here’s a technical look at what happens: when you are logged in to your Google account, and you perform a web search, your search results are presented over an encrypted channel (an https URL). When you click on a search result, Google first forwards your click to an unencrypted channel (http URL), stripping your search terms in the process. They then send you to the search result website. Googlebar Lite picks up on that first step (the forward to the unencrypted channel), and gets confused as a result. It sees the search terms have been stripped, so it removes them from the search box.

There is one way you can currently work around this issue, until I can put a fix into Googlebar Lite. Be forewarned, however, that this workaround will send your searches over an unencrypted channel (i.e. the old Google behavior). Here's what to do:

1. In the Googlebar Lite main menu, click the "Search Preferences" menu item (which takes you to the search preferences page at Google).
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and uncheck the option labeled "Use a secure HTTPS connection when available."
3. Save your changes.

After performing the above, your search terms should no longer disappear from the Googlebar Lite search box. The latest version of Googlebar Lite fixes this issue. Please note that a fix will be placed into the next release of Googlebar Lite to solve this issue in a cleaner manner. I am hard at work on the next release, and am in the midst of a complete overhaul of the options code. As such, it may be a few more weeks before a new release is available. Stay tuned for further updates.

I am in the midst of making some large internal changes to Googlebar Lite, and one of the changes I’d like to implement involves dropping support for Firefox 3.x browsers. How many of you would this impact? I know that many corporations still use the 3.x line, simply because the update schedule is now too aggressive. If you use a Firefox 3.x build, and you also use Googlebar Lite, post a comment below to let me know. Thanks!

I’ve just released another version of Googlebar Lite. Here’s a look at what’s new in this version:

• Added google.com.eg to the list of available top-level domains
• The Google dictionary search button and menu item are now disabled when the search box is empty
• AJAX-style queries (on Google search result pages) are now given higher priority than normal GET-style queries
• Updated the menu item label for the translate context menu command
• Converted a few component instances into a lazy-load approach, which should improve startup speeds
• Removed a few unused variables and one unused interface instance
• Bug Fix: Corrected a number of issues with the search term highlighting feature

See problems? As always, let me know.

Version 4.7.10 of Googlebar Lite is now available. Changes in this release include:

• Altered the Google dictionary search since Google has shut down that dedicated service
• Bumped the maxVersion to 12.* to work around Mozilla’s annoying new release schedule
• Added google.sk to the list of available top-level domains
• Bug Fix: Corrected an error with the addProgressListener call
• Bug Fix: Reverted a style rule change that caused search word button labels to disappear in some themes