Some tricks for Chrome / Chromium

This is a mere summary of some tips that I accumulated when using Chromium. All the tips, extensions and tips recommended here can be used interchangeably in Chrome y Chromium, the open source project on which the former is based.

Enable auto-scroll.

This is the name by which this function is designated, very popular in Firefox and Chrome for Windows, by means of which the user, by clicking with the mouse wheel, can move forward and backward through the text that appears on the screen. In other words, you can "scrolling" the mouse wheel without turning it but by dragging the mouse up or down.

Unfortunately, this feature is not present in Chrome for Linux and Mac, but it is present in the Windows version. Then all we have left is to "emulate" it via an extension.

Install the autroscroll extension and restart Chrome.

Integrate Chrome into the OS appearance

By default, Chrome is shown with that light blue color that can be out of tune with the rest of our operating system. To minimize this difference, you can configure Chrome to suit the "look & feel" of your system by going to the Tool> Options> Personal Stuff button and clicking the button Use GTK + Theme.

Synchronize your bookmarks, preferences and themes.

This is a super useful tool that few know about. If you have Chrome installed on multiple machines, you can now sync bookmarks, preferences, and themes by going to the Tool> Synced button. To configure the Google account in which to save these options and to establish what things to synchronize and what things not, go to the button Tools> Options> Personal Stuff and click on the button Setup Sync.

I have noticed that if you go to your Google Docs account, you will see all the saved settings in the left panel.

Save sessions.

This is very useful for those who often work with some particular sites. There is an extension called Session Manager that allows you to save the session (that is, the tabs you have open at that moment) so that you can continue working with them later. The interesting thing is that it does not open them when we start the browser the next time, but, through a button, we can open it whenever we want and we can even indicate exactly which session to open, since it allows saving several at the same time.

Install the extension Session Manager.

Setting up search engines

One of the things I love about Firefox is the ability to search different sites directly through the address bar, either using the search bar on the right or even from the address bar using bookmarks with keywords (keywords) .

The latter is the method that I use the most and that is the most practical for me. To do the same in Chrome, we have to edit the "search engines". It sounds pompous but it is actually very simple.

Right click on the address bar and select Edit Search Engines. Then edit the search engine you want and assign it a short and easy "keyword". In case the site you want to search is not in the list, click Add… All that remains is to complete the data. In Name, give it a descriptive name, for example RAE (Real Academia Española); in Keyword a short keyword, for example rae; In URL, paste the address of the page that returns the search results on the site in question.

This last element requires some explanation, since that is where the "trick" lies. Following our example, go to the RAE website and do a search. I searched for "pablo" and the URL of the results page was: http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?LEMA=pablo. Copy this URL and paste it into the corresponding option of your new search engine. Once you've pasted it, change the search word to% s. Finally, click on Add.

From now on, you can carry out any search in the RAE directly from your address bar by typing "rae loquequierobuscar". In other words, space the search term.

The same is true of any other website. I use it for SubDivx, IMDB, Google, Latino, BTJunkie, Mercado Libre, Taringa, etc.

Enable checker in Spanish

To enable the corrector in Spanish, which is very useful if you are a person who is dedicated to writing a lot online (!), Go to the button Tool> Options> Under the Hood. Click the Change Font and Language Settings button. Go to the Languages ​​tab and add the Spanish language and put it first in the list. Finally, make sure that the Check spelling box is enabled and the selected language is Spanish.

AdBlock for Chrome

If you still think that Chrome does not have ad blocking, you are very wrong. For a long time Chrome already has the same system that became arch-famous in Firefox: AdBlock. To use it you just have to install the extension AdBlock. I also recommend installing the Browser Button for Adblock extension, which adds an Adblock button to the side of the address bar, which makes its use and the (un) blocking of the pages easier and more bearable.

NoScript: block Javascript elements, cookies, etc.

NoScript is an extension for Firefox that allows blocking JavaScript, Java, Flash, Silverlight and other executable content and gives users the possibility to choose if they want to enable the execution of such content from only trusted sources. Therefore, browsing is much safer (because it loads only content from trusted sources) and fast (because it doesn't load a lot of content that is worthless to the user). Many users cannot imagine their life without this extension and it is one of the main reasons why they have not decided to try Chrome yet.

Well, if you are one of them, I tell you that the latest versions of Chrome have options to selectively control cookies, images, JavaScript, plug-ins and pop-ups. Users can block this content or choose to enable only those from trusted sources.

Go to the Tool> Options> Under the Hood button. Click on the Content Settings button. There you will be able to block everything to your liking and piacere.

In case you have chosen to block all Javascript content, for example, when you browse a page that wants to execute Javascript code, an icon will appear in the address bar warning you that this code has been blocked. In case you want to add that page to the "white list" of addresses that can run Javascript, click on that icon and select Always allow Javascript on ... Something similar happens with blocking images, cookies, plug-ins and pop -ups.

The recommended configuration is to block everything and only enable the trusted pages.

Chrome doesn't have extensions… Ha!

This is one of the reasons why many Firefox users are reluctant to try Chrome. I invite you to see the HUGE extension library that Chrome users have built in record time. There you can find from iMacros but also ProxySwitcher, to IETab, Cooliris, and a very long etc.