- Personalizing the Desktop
- Configuring the Chrome Browser
- Configuring Other Settings
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Configuring the Chrome Browser
Because the Chrome browser is where you do most of your work, you probably want to take a few minutes to configure the browser to your own personal preferences. You can change the home page displayed when the browser first launches, determine whether or not the Bookmarks bar is displayed, and change the entire look and feel of the browser by selecting a different theme.
Configure Startup Behavior
When you turn on your Chromebook and launch Chrome OS, one of three things can happen: Chrome can open the home page you set, reopen those pages that were open last, or open any pages you’ve preselected.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Scroll to the bottom of the Settings page and click Show Advanced Settings.
- To have Chrome open the default New Tab page on startup, scroll down to the On Startup section and select the Open the New Tab Page option.
- To have Chrome open the pages that were last open on startup, scroll down to the On Startup section and select the Continue Where You Left Off option.
- To have Chrome open pages you specify on startup, scroll down to the On Startup section and select the Open a Specific Page or Set of Pages option.
Click Set Pages to display the Startup Pages pane.
- Enter the URL for the first page into the Add a New Page box. Press Enter to display an additional box, into which you can enter a second URL.
Continue adding URLs as desired; then click OK.
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Display the Home Button
As you just learned, you can configure Chrome to open a specific home page on startup. You can also display a Home button in the toolbar, next to the Omnibox; clicking this Home button displays the page you’ve set as your home page.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Go to the Appearance section of the Settings page and check the Show Home Button option.
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Display the Bookmarks Bar
Chrome lets you store bookmarks to your favorite pages on the Bookmarks bar. This is a toolbar that displays beneath the normal Chrome toolbar. You can then click a button on the Bookmarks bar to go directly to a bookmarked web page.
The Bookmarks bar displays automatically on the New Tab page. You can also opt to display the Bookmarks bar all the time in the Chrome browser.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Go to the Appearance section of the Settings page and check the Always Show the Bookmarks Bar option.
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Change Search Providers
Chrome’s Omnibox functions both as an address box and a search box. That is, you can enter a search query into the Omnibox and your query will be sent to your web search engine of choice.
Not surprisingly, Google is set as Chrome’s default search engine provider. You can, however, opt to send your queries to any other search engine.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
- Go to the Search section of the Settings page, click the first button (it should say “Google”) and select a provider—AOL, Ask, Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.
To send your queries to a search engine not listed here, click the Manage Search Engines button.
- When the Search Engines panel appears, make a selection from the Other Search Engines section, or enter the name and URL of a different search engine.
Click Done.
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Enable Voice Search
When you’re using Google’s search engine, you don’t have to type your queries. Instead, you can speak them and search via voice command. When this feature is activated, all you have to do is say “OK Google” into your Chromebook’s microphone and then speak your query; Google will do the rest.
You will need to enable a feature called Google Instant. This feature, not enabled by default, displays predicted search results as you type your query.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Go to the Search section of the Settings page and check the Enable “OK Google” to Start a Voice Search option.
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Select a New Theme
You can also change the look and feel of the Chrome browser window by selecting a new theme. A theme is a combination of colors, fonts, and background images; you can choose from any number of predesigned themes to personalize your browsing experience.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Go to the Appearance section of the Settings page and click the Get Themes button. You are now connected to the Internet and taken to the Themes section of the Chrome Web Store.
- Search for themes (using the Search the Store box in the left sidebar) or browse through all available themes.
Click a theme thumbnail to view information about that theme.
From the theme page, click the Add to Chrome button.
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Reset to the Default Theme
You can return to Chrome’s default theme at any time.
- Click anywhere in the status area to display the Settings panel.
Click Settings.
Go to the Appearance section of the Settings page and click the Reset to Default Theme button.
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