Internet : Chrome Tips

Omnibox Search Directly Into Individual Sites

You can automatically search through many websites without actually going to those sites, as long as they're in your list of search engines   For example, to go directly to the Wikipedia article on india, skip the stops of going to Google or Wikipedia's front pages.  

Drag Multiple Tabs at Once

Most people are familiar with the ability to drag and drop Chrome tabs into their own browser windows, or mix and match them between browser windows, but they may not know that it can be done with more than one tab at a time. Just hold down the Ctrl key and click on all the tabs you wish to move and you can move them as one. If you're on a Mac, hold the Command key.

Your Omnibox Is a Calculator

As you may or may not know, Google will calculate basic math in the search bar. However, did you know that you can access a similar math function in your omnibox without ever going to Google.com? Just type in a basic math problem and the correct answer will appear in the suggestions below the omnibox without pressing enter

This handy little trick appears only to work if your default omnibox search is Google—you won't get an answer if your default is, say Yahoo or Bing. It also doesn't appear to work if you are typing into an incognito window, no matter what your default browser.

A Simple Image Browser

Have you ever been organizing your computer and come across some jpeg and you have no idea what it is or how it got on your computer? if you just want to see what it is real quick, drag it directly into your Chrome browser window and take a quick gander.

Drag to Search

Highlighting a word and performing a drag and drop is fundamentally the same as performing a cut and paste, so it stands to reason that you could just highlight a word or phrase and drag it into the omnibox to perform a Web search. Also, you can also just right-click on highlighted word or phrase and you will prompt a pop-up option to conduct a Google search

Use Key Commands to Browse Through Tabs

If you ever need to read something quick on another tab, hold down the Control key (Command on Macs) and a number 1 through 9. Each number is associated with a different tab starting with 1 all the way to the left and moving incrementally through 9 tabs as you move to the right.

Navigate Up and Down Using Key Commands

You can use the spacebar to scroll down on any webpage, and you can scroll back up by pressing Shift and the spacebar.

Open Specific Pages at Start

If you use the Web like me, you end up going to the same sites every time you log on. Conveniently, you can set Chrome up to open those same websites every time you start up. In the Settings menu, go to the section "On Startup" (or just type chrome://settings/startup in the omnibox) and click on the option to "Open a specific page or set of pages." Next to that option is a "Set pages" link, which allows you to choose your starting sites (it will even auto fill from sites in your recent history or you can choose the tabs you currently have open).

Open a Search in New Tab

By default, searching in the omnibox for "taco" and hitting return opens a search for everything "taco" in your current tab. However, sometimes you want to look up information, but don't want to lose the site you are on. Fortunately there is a key command workaround: Hold down the Alt button and hit return on your search and this will open in a new tab. Mac users, press the Command button instead.

Open Accidentally Closed Tabs

Have you ever mistakenly closed a tab? We all have. BUT thankfully Chrome is a forgiving browser and makes it possible to get it all back. All you have to do is press Control-Shift-T (Command-Shift-T on a Mac) and Chrome will reopen any recently closed tabs. You can keep hitting it for more closed tabs working your way back through your browsing history.

Zoom In and Zoom Out

On a PC, you can zoom in or out on a page by pressing Control while rolling your scroll wheel up or down (or by pressing Control-Plus or Control-Minus). Once you zoom in or out from the default, a magnifying glass icon will appear in the right side of the omnibox. You can click the magnifying glass to manually zoom in or out or hit "Reset to default" to return to the normal 100 percent view. Conversely, you can also click Control-0 to return to the default.

Easy Key Command to Delete Browsing History

If you ever want to delete your browsing history, including past URLs, cached images, passwords, and cookies, you can do that all through the clear browsing window in Settings. You can access it quickly by pressing Control-Shift-Delete and a "Clear browsing data" window will open. 

Drag Links Directly to Your Desktop

There are numerous ways to store and organize links you want to click on later. However, one method you may not be utilizing—or even aware of—is the ability to create a link icon directly on your desktop. All you have to do is highlight a URL from the omnibox and drag and drop it on the desktop. Chrome automatically creates a clickable icon that you can use later, or organize as you would like.

Chrome already has built-in Google Translate for entire webpages. But if you just want information on a select phrase or passage, you can get it with just two clicks. First, install the official Google Translate extension. Then you can highlight any unfamiliar text (that's one click) and click the little Google Translate icon that sits in the top-right side of your browser screen (that's two). Look at you, Mr./Ms. polyglot-by-proxy!

Add Some Color With Themes

Tired of the default look on Chrome? You can download some (mostly free) "themes" from the Chrome store. Just click over to the Theme section and click to install; no need to re-start.

These themes mostly just change the edge of your browser, unless you go to the default apps page (chrome://apps), in which case it becomes your background, as you can see in the image above. (in this case, I used the free "Night Time In New York" theme.)
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 Hidden T-Rex Game

Did you know that Chrome has a hidden game featuring a monochromatic T-Rex? You can access it by manually disconnecting your device from the Internet and then opening a new tab. This will prompt a page that says "Unable to connect to the Internet," and will feature a little 8-bit style T-Rex at the top 

To play, just hit the space bar and you'll enter a forever-runner game in which the T-Rex runs along a desert landscape. Press the spacebar to make it hop over the various cacti and vultures it encounters. It's great fun for like 40 seconds.