{"id":2660,"date":"2010-10-26T21:26:03","date_gmt":"2010-10-27T04:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2010-10-26T21:26:03","modified_gmt":"2010-10-27T04:26:03","slug":"15-killer-google-chrome-features-you-might-not-know-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2010\/10\/26\/15-killer-google-chrome-features-you-might-not-know-about\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Killer Google Chrome Features You Might Not Know About"},"content":{"rendered":"
Written by Abhijeet<\/a><\/p>\n Google Chrome has been steadily gaining in the browser market share since its launch 2 years ago. It\u2019s not without its flaws but it definitely falls in the \u201ckinda cool\u201d category. Its simplicity and minimalistic, yet feature-rich, interface caused a lot of users to ditch their old and trusted browser in favor of this new tool.<\/p>\n Chrome has a lot of obscure features which could immensely enhance one\u2019s browsing productivity if he were to know about them. This post intends to do reveal exactly those features.<\/p>\n Some of the following features might be something you already know. But as you read on, you are sure to bump into an amazing hidden chrome feature that you weren\u2019t aware of, and that\u2019s what makes this post worth going through. So, check it out!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We have talked about Chrome\u2019s cool Pin tab feature before<\/a>. Just right click on a tab, hit \u201cPin tab\u201d and the tab converts into a favicon and sticks itself permanently to the extreme left. Use this on those tabs that you never close (Gmail, for instance).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you copy any URL outside Chrome and intend to visit that site on Chrome, then instead of doing Ctrl+V and Enter on the address bar, you could just right click and click \u201cPaste and go.\u201d Same for text that you want to search using Chrome\u2019s address bar. Right click and \u201cPaste and search.\u201d Saves time in the long run.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can easily drag downloaded files from Chrome to your desktop or any other folder on your computer. That means, from now on, you don\u2019t need to go and change the download location each time you want the files to be downloaded in a separate place other than desktop (or downloads folder).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the entire Developer tools feature which Chrome offers (you can access it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I<\/strong> ) is unique and amazing, the Resources<\/strong> section is particularly useful for webmasters and anyone who owns a site and wants to know how fast his site loads on the browser. As you can see in the above screenshot, there are various options available to explore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chrome treats each tab as a separate process so that if one of them starts creating a problem, it can be killed and a browser crash could be prevented. It offers a built-in task manager<\/strong> to let you see the memory and CPU resources consumed by each tab. You can access it through Tools \u2013> Task Manager or by pressing Shift+Esc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You know that Chrome\u2019s address bar doubles up as Google search bar too, but did you know that it could be used to make simple calculations? Yep, just type in 12*50 and wait a sec. The result will come up automatically.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another very useful feature. A lot of times, the text boxes on webpages are annoying. They are too small and after you have typed a few lines, you get a scroll bar which is irritating. On Chrome, you could actually drag that box from the corner and make it bigger. You could try it right now with the comment box at the bottom of this page.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you have performed a search on a website then next time you can search it directly from Chrome\u2019s address bar. Here\u2019s how: lets say you have used this site\u2019s custom Google search bar (located at the top right of this page) to lookup something before. Now, if you want to do it again, just type a few letters of site in the address bar, like guid.. and hit Tab. You\u2019ll get a \u201cSearch guidingtech.com\u201d option that\u2019ll allow you to search this site directly from the address bar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the geeks among you, Chrome provides an \u201cAbout memory\u201d page that can accessed by typing about:memory in the address bar. This gives detailed insights into how different processes in the browser are consuming memory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You could create standalone apps from webpages in Chrome by using Tools \u2013> Create application shortcuts. This option could be used for sites that you use frequently and need them open all the time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This could prove to be a very useful feature, especially after Xmarks, the daddy of bookmark sync tools, decided to shut down<\/a> (though there is a ray of hope<\/a>). We included this method previously in our Xmarks alternatives post<\/a>, and have also talked about it in detail here \u2013 How To Sync Chrome Bookmarks Using Your Google Account<\/a>. (Update<\/em>: as pointed out by our reader Phistuck in the comments, this feature can now also sync your autofills, extensions and more. )<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, you don\u2019t need the iPad to see how your favorite sites look in the iPad. You could check it right on your computer, in Chrome. For more, read this \u2013 Switch To iPad Interface In Chrome By Changing User Agent String<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chrome has an option that lets you reopen previously opened pages before you closed the browser. This comes in handy if the browser crashes for some reason and you had a lot of tabs open. I recommend that you make sure this option is checked. Learn how to do it here \u2013 How to Restore Tabs & Save Tab Groups In Google Chrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n1. Pin Tab<\/h4>\n
2. Paste and Go \/ Paste and Search<\/h4>\n
3. Drag and Drop Downloads<\/h4>\n
4. Resources Page<\/h4>\n
5. Task Manager<\/h4>\n
6. Quick Calculation Results from Address Bar<\/h4>\n
7. Drag and Resize Text Box on a Webpage<\/h4>\n
8. Site search from Address bar<\/h4>\n
9.\u00a0 About:memory<\/h4>\n
10. Application Shortcuts<\/h4>\n
11. Sync Bookmarks (and AutoFills, Extensions) To Google Account<\/h4>\n
12. Get iPad Interface<\/h4>\n
13. Select Reopen All Tabs<\/h4>\n
14. Organize Thumbnails Using Full Screen Key<\/h4>\n