thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources » Tutorials

How to Use Google Labs in Chromium

Daniel Cawrey — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:49:07 +0000

Google’s calling the ability to use “crazy experimental stuff” within the browser Google Chrome Labs. Here’s what you need to do to enable Labs right now.

The ability to use Labs is only available in Chromium right now. So the first thing you need to do is get the most recent version. Head over to here to find the platform you use.

Scroll down to the very bottom of the list to get the newest build. You can see here that there are already several new builds for today, just pick the newest one.

Once you have installed the latest copy of Chromium using the appropriate installation files for your system, go ahead and enter in about:labs in the omnibox.

Right now the only Chromium Lab available is using side tabs. If you’re using Chrome, you can already use this feature, and I’ve already written a guide on how. According to ReadWriteWeb, Mac users will see something called expose-for-tabs, and right now Linux does not have any Lab features available.

I would expect to see some pretty cool stuff in labs, but it will usually require one to have the updated version of Chromium to get the newest features. We’ll keep you posted when new ones pop up.

Turning Off Spell Check in Chrome

Daniel Cawrey — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:21:52 +0000

While having a built-in spell checker for Chrome is helpful sometimes, it can also be a bit annoying with the amount of squiggly lines that it can create if you’re using words not traditionally found in the dictionary. If you want to turn off the default spell checker feature, here’s how.

The first thing you’ll need to do is go to the options menu under the wrench icon.

In the options menus, you will need to click on the Under the Hood tab.

From Under the Hood, you will need to scroll down to the Web Content area, and then click on the Change font and language settings button.

In the Font and Language Settings window, you’ll need to click on the Languages tab.

From there, you’ll need to uncheck the Check spelling option.

Note that Chrome does allow you to check spelling in other languages, depending on your location. While turning off the spell check option is not easy to find in the options menus of Chrome, hopefully this helps out.

How to Use Google Search History

Daniel Cawrey — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:39:22 +0000

In another instance where being in the cloud becomes useful, Google has announced on their Mobile Blog the ability to track down previous search queries, no matter where you are. If you searched for something on your PC and want to quickly access it from your smartphone, you’ll now have the ability to do so by clicking on the “History” link at the bottom of Google Mobile Search.

On your phone, you’ll need to enable this by going to Settings at the top, then selecting Save Searches under Search History, then saving your settings.

Curiously enough, doing this on your PC is a bit more difficult, as I had to click around a bit to figure out how to do this. Maybe they make it easier on mobile for convenience, but those thinking ahead would probably want to set this up on their PC beforehand. Or perhaps I’m just dense.

Head over to Search Settings from a main Google window such as the search page.

Scroll down a bit on the Search Settings page until you reach Query Suggestions and then click on Web History.

You have the option here to Enable Web History or to just limit it to searches, if you don’t use the Google Toolbar you’re probably better off just limiting it.

That’s all you have to do. When you look at your history when you are mobile, you’ll see icons denoting whether you accessed a certain query at your PC or via mobile, also a helpful feature to have.

Understanding Single Sign-On in Google

Daniel Cawrey — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:39:50 +0000

Multiple outlets are reporting today that single sign-on is being rolled out to all Google users. But what does that mean? For starters, if you’ve ever been challenged with having to sign in and sign out of multiple accounts, this feature was built specifically for you.

Now that Google Apps is being used more commonly for business, there is more use of Google services that require a sign in. If you have your own personal account, and a business one, you can see very quickly how single sign-on can save you time without having to constantly log out and log in to various accounts.

Now, when you go to your account settings page, you can see that there is an option to switch to single sign-on; right now the default is for it to be switched off.

You’ll then be shown an informational page about single sign-on.

Of note here is that there are a limited set of Google services that are currently offering single sign-on.

You are then required to check off some boxes to make sure that you understand what you’re doing.

Once you’ve saved the changes, you’ll notice that your account name in the upper right has become a link; you can click on it and sign into multiple accounts. You are then able to seamlessly switch between accounts by using this menu.

That’s going to save some time for sure.

UPDATE: At the time of this post the feature had not been rolled out to everyone; now the Gmail Blog is announcing everyone can use the feature.

You Want Sidebar Tabs in Chrome? Here’s How

Daniel Cawrey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:23:26 +0000

Many people have asked for the ability to move their tabs to the side in Google Chrome. This is a feature that first took off in Firefox, and fortunately the Chromium team has graciously put them into the early builds. Now, if you’re using Chrome 6 in the form of the development or canary builds, you can have sidebar tabs as well.

The first thing you need to do is add “–enable-sidebar-tabs” to your Chrome shortcut like this.

Open up Chrome again, and you can now right click on a tab and choose Use side tabs.

When I chose Use side tabs, my tabs simply disappeared, a strange sight for sure.

But when I hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, they appeared on a sidebar to the left.

To revert to regular tabs, right click on an open tab and uncheck the Use side tabs option.

Once again, you’ll need to open a new tab to make them appear at the top – a little quirk that shows this feature still needs refinement.

I’m not sure what to think about sidebar tabs – I’ve never used them, so I am accustomed to using regular tabs on the top. I think the feature also need a bit of UI polish as well, but if you’re using Firefox just for the sidebar tabs, you might want to grab yourself the development build of Chrome and give it a shot.

More Installable Webapps for Chrome Available

Daniel Cawrey — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:57:22 +0000

Once you’ve taken the time to add in the apps that are packaged with Chrome 6/Chromium, you can also add others. These are usually built with the .crx extension file name.

Vlad Nastasiu has put on his web site a good array of these – Facebook, Youtube and Google Reader to name a few. DownloadSquad also has an extensive listing. You can follow the Chromium Apps discussion group for more ongoing information as well.

1. Make sure that you have enabled apps in Chromium/Chrome 6.

2. Download the .crx file to your computer.

3. With the enabled-apps shortcut of Chrome open, you can open up the .crx file.

You’ll get a screen like this.

Confirm, and you’re good to go! Want to know how to make your own apps in Chrome? Check out Google’s Guide to Installable Web Apps.

How to Use Chrome Webapps Right Now

Daniel Cawrey — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:45:09 +0000

Here are screen-by-screen steps on how to add the Calendar, Docs and Gmail apps to your Chrome browser. This is what this will look like when you are done.

Your tabs for the three will look like this.

Additionally, when you open a new tab, you’ll get a window that looks like this.

1. Download Chrome 6.

Firstly, you need to get the Chrome 6 development build for this to work. Here is a direct link to download it.

2. Add a Command Line Flag to your Chrome Shortcut.

This is easy, just go to your desktop and right click on your Chrome icon. Select Properties. In the Properties window, you’ll need to add a space and then the flag “–enable-apps” at the end of the Target location.

Hit OK.

3. Go into Developer Mode.

Open your shortcut of Chrome (remember, you have to use this one in order for this to work in the future). Navigate in the omnibar to chrome://extensions

Click on Developer Mode over on the far right.

4. Load the Extensions

A developer toolbar will appear; click on Load unpacked extension.

You’ll be asked to select the path of the extensions.

Windows Vista/7

\Users\[profile name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\[version]\Resources\

Windows XP

\Documents & Settings\[profile name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\[version]\Resources\

In that path location, there are three folders corresponding with the apps.

You’ll need to open these three up using the Load unpacked extensions button. You’ll then see them in your list of extensions.

Now you have Chrome web apps in your browser, enjoy!

If you’re using Linux, here is a guide on how to do this.

Anyone using Mac and has a guide I can link to, let me know.

How to Turn Off Search Suggestions in Chrome

Daniel Cawrey — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:32:43 +0000

Search suggestions in the Chrome browser can be a helpful tool for those who like using the Omnibox to find what they are looking for. But there is a drawback to this feature. As you start typing into the Omnibox, Chrome is sending data back to the search provider of your choice – whether you are using Google, Bing or Yahoo as your default provider. Fortunately, there is an easy way to turn it off.

Go to tools
Select Options (Preferences for Mac Users)
In the Under the Hood tabs, the first section you see is privacy settings. To turn the search suggestions off, uncheck the “Use a suggestion service” option:

Now none of the information you type is being sent back to your search provider until you press Enter. Other browsers separate the search box from the URL box, but the feature being combined doesn’t change the privacy of the browser unless this particular feature is turned off.

Using Online Storage to Collaborate in Google Docs

Daniel Cawrey — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:02:17 +0000

In my previous post, I showed an example of a company that decided to make the switch to Google Apps as an enterprise solution. I find this interesting, since for as many years as I can remember there have only been a few companies that have dominated this segment of the technology industry with Microsoft being the bellwether and IBM pulling a distant second.

It’s never a bad thing in an industry to have some competition, but the reality is that we don’t hear too often about companies that have switched over to Google as an enterprise solution. At least, not yet. Fortunately, those of us who just want to use the regular version for now can have some of the benefits of the souped-up business version.

So, all in an effort to help people further understand some of the functionality that exists in the non-enterprise version of Google Docs which is free, here is a way to use online storage to share files with others. You are able to share out 2GB at no cost, and there are some cheap options available for an upgrade. For example, you can get an additional 20GB for just $5.00 a year to share between Picasa, Gmail and Docs.

This is really a good option to use for large files that may not get to a recipient if emailed or if the file in question is one that would be picked up by a spam filter as dangerous such as an archive or a configuration file. To do so, it’s really easy, so here is how:

While in Gmail, click on the Documents link up at the top:

From here, you’ll see Google Docs open up in a new tab. Go ahead and click on “Upload” at the top left:

From here you will be in a window that allows you to upload several files at once:

Once you have chosen your files click and your files will be stored on the servers. This may take some time depending on file size. You will then be able to see the file(s) in you main Docs window. You can select a document you want to share, hit the “Share” button:

Then you can invite someone to be able to use your file from their Docs account:

Again, this is very useful for when you need a way to send files that are too big to email or read by Postini as dangerous. Plus, it’s free, integrates with existing Google Applications like Gmail and is easy to use. The business purpose of this would be valuable, and I know in the enterprise edition the feature set is even richer in terms of options available.

How to Use Geolocation in Chrome Browser

Daniel Cawrey — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:41:30 +0000

The developer channel of Chrome has been updated today and the geolocation API is now built in. This allows developers to now work on apps and extensions that can take into account a user’s geographic coordinates. I’m not sure specifically what type of applications would incorporate this feature, but I could imagine this bringing a new tool in terms of localized social networking that could be pretty useful.

To use the geolocation feature, you must have the Google Chrome developer channel release of Chrome (version 5.0.342.1) and you must run a commnad line switch of “–enable-geolocation” when executing the chrome.exe application.

The release notes referenced that you could test this by going to http://maps.google.com and it would recognize that the feature was turned on. However, I could not get it to work at that URL. Instead I found another link in the notes to go to http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/m which must be the UK URL for the mobile maps app. When I went to this site, I was prompted with this messgae in Chrome:

I clicked the “Allow” button, and up popped my location. If you have ever used the Google Maps application on your smartphone, it is exactly like that, with the major difference being that you computer has much more processing power with which to build some useful tools and games around.

This has to be done every time you start Chrome if want this experimental API to be turned on. There are probably going to be some interesting apps that will be developed for this, and it is clear that this is a move further towards mobile computing for Chromium. Having this on the browser is only a start for where this is going in an operating system architecture. With that being said, what kind of apps do you envision there being with the geolocation API?