Firefox gets Google Chrome features

2 February 2009 12:54 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Google has updated its Google Toolbar for Firefox plug-in and in the process brought the Mozilla created browser a step closer to acting like its own browser - Google Chrome.

The new toolbar - version 5 - adds a tab thumbnail feature that means when users open a new tab instead of seeing a blank white page they are now presented with small thumbnails of their favourite sites (up to nine), as well as recently-closed and bookmarked pages based on their browser history.

Google also says the feature, which is a key component of the Chrome browser can be changed to your favourite site if the nine thumbnail option isn't for you: "Next time you want to go to your favourite site more quickly or restore an accidentally closed tab, you don't need to type out the URL. Typing Ctrl + T or double-clicking to the right of your open tabs will open up the new tab page with all your favorite sites right at your finger tips".

The search engine giant also says that it has fixed some of the most reported bugs to give you a faster and more stable experience with this update.