This week marks the 5th anniversary of Chrome, a project Google started back in 2008 to push the web platform forward and make it better for everyone. To celebrate the 5th Chrome-iversary, Google has put together five facts about Chrome that you might not know. And for the experts, five pro tips.
Five things you might not know about Chrome
1. Chrome’s name comes from an obsession with simplicity. The Chrome browser was designed to let websites shine. From the beginning, the design philosophy for the user interface has been “content, not Chrome.” In design terminology, “chrome” refers to the non-webpage parts of the browser’s interface—the toolbars, tabs, and buttons. This is part of the reason “Chrome” was chosen as the browser name.
2. Chrome is obsessed with speed. In 2013 mobile speed increased 41% and desktop improved 40%. One of Google’s tricks to make browsing the web in Chrome ultra fast is called pre-rendering. When you land on a webpage, Chrome starts to retrieve information about sites that the page links to in the background. This means when you click on the next link, Chrome has already begun retrieving that page, so it opens almost instantaneously.
3. Google actually pays people to crack Chrome. Through the Chrome Vulnerability Rewards Program, Google provides monetary awards and public recognition when a hacker or security researcher reports a vulnerability to the company. This way, hackers have incentive to find and report bugs, and Google can fix them before they get exploited by bad guys on the web. The collective creativity of the wider security community has helped make Chrome even safer for hundreds of millions of users around the world and to date Google has paid out more than 2 million dollars across Google products.
4. Chrome keeps itself updated. Chrome is the fashionista of browsers. It’s not going to sit around and wait until the latest feature, software, patch, or bug fix gets shipped! Chrome’s auto-update feature means that it just goes right out there and gets them seamlessly. New updates to Chrome are pushed out every six weeks, which means that you’re always using the latest, safest version of the browser without the drag of having to update.
5. Chrome can take you to the stars or the circus. Virtually, that is. Chrome was built to help drive innovation on the web and create a modern platform for web pages and applications. Chrome experiments like 100,000 Stars, or Cirque du Soleil’s Movi.Kanti.Revo are just two of the over 500 Chrome Experiments that have been created for Chrome to take advantage of advanced browser technologies such as touch, WebGL, and Web Audio to create immersive, interactive experiences that take you to amazing places.
5 pro-tips for the Chrome-xpert
1. Let the omnibox do your sums. The omnibox is that place up at the top of your Google Chrome browser where the URL of the website you’re viewing is located. As many pro users know, you can use it to search by typing your query directly in and hitting enter. What many people don’t realise is that this little box isn’t just great at finding you answers on the web, it’s a whizz at math too! You can type in your problem, like 97×45 and your answer will be the first selection in the drop down menu.
2. Pin your favorite pages: If you have a favourite tab, like your email, that you refer to throughout your day, it can be a total drag trying to find them once you’re amidst many tabs. If you want to make sure that a tab stays right where you can see it, right-click it and click on ‘Pin tab’. This will shrink the window down to the size of the favicon, leaving more room for multi-tasking. You can also arrange your pinned tabs by clicking and dragging pinned tabs to the position of your choice.
3. Search without a trace. Say you’re sharing a computer, or looking for a surprise present and don’t want your web activity to be tracked, Incognito Mode is your answer. Select ‘New incognito Window’ from the menu and a new window with a guy wearing a fedora and sunglasses in the upper lefthand corner will pop up giving you a way to browse without a trace.
4. Take your web with you. Do you email yourself links all the time? Instead of cluttering your inbox you can use Chrome Sync to take your web with you. Once you’ve signed into Chrome, and enabled Chrome Sync in your settings, you can get your devices talking to one another. Chrome Sync will make all the tabs you have open on one computer available across your devices. So next time you’re reading something at home but need to head out for your morning commute, you can just open Chrome on your phone and pick up right where you left off.
5. Drag a tab to one of five positions to re-size or dock the window. Drag a tab to the middle of either side of your computer screen. When the docking icon appears, release the mouse over the icon and the tab will snap into place, filling exactly half your screen. Four other docking positions will help you work simultaneously in multiple tabs with ease.