Many of you may have found FreshBlogger through the button I submitted to the Google Toolbar Button Gallery. It’s been a while since that button has been updated, but since there is a new look here on FreshBlogger, it’s time to update the toolbar button.

If this is all new to you, Google has designed it’s the Google Toolbar so that custom-made buttons can be added that provide extra functionality. What’s really cool about this is that the buttons can include an RSS feed. This allows the button to work sort like FireFox’s livebookmark feature. That is, when you click the button, a drop down menu appears showing you the latest headlines from that site’s feed.

When I first discovered this, I thought it was a great way to make Internet Explorer 6 a lot more useful. I was already using the Google Toolbar, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to add some buttons to it. If you already have the toolbar installed, click here to install the FreshBlogger toolbar button. If you’ve been using the FreshBlogger button, you can get the latest version from the toolbar menu.

The toolbar button itself is just an XML file with a base-64 encoded icon image inside of it. There are detailed instructions from Google describing all of the features and how to create your own button. When you’re finished, you can submit the button to Google’s Toolbar Button Gallery. It’s another way to help readers find your blog and keep coming back.