How to Use Google Chrome

One of the reasons people refuse to move away from Internet Explorer is because of the familiarity issue. With IE, users know how to add bookmarks, navigate to previously-viewed pages or even clear their cache and cookies with ease. When new browsers like Google Chrome comes along, first impressions are huge, and if they can't figure out how to use the above mentioned features in less than five minutes, they generally never come back.

Google Chrome is so awesome, that I wanted to put together a quick guide about how to use it. All of the old features are there, but many options are hidden in order to provide the user with larger viewing area. The benefits of Chrome are so immense that it's really worth getting to know. Thankfully, if you are a regular IE7 or Firefox user, you will see some similarities straight off, but there are some significant differences that could throw new users off.

When you open up Chrome for the first time, you encounter a homepage with blank boxes and a most visited section. Chrome keeps tabs on your most-visited pages, and similar to a bookmark function, it places thumbnails of your most frequently-visited sites for you to quickly navigate to right on that front page. I used Chrome twice before my faves started showing up. Since my company is based online, it's a nice feature, because I really do visit several websites regularly and there they are, thus eliminating the need for a bookmark toolbar like the one in Firefox.

If you prefer to open up to a regular homepage each time, you can edit the settings by opening the browser, clicking on the wrench in the upper right corner, select options and then the basic tab, where you can select a regular URL to be your homepage.

While we are here, the wrench button also allows you to view your history, clear your Internet cache, import bookmarks saved from other browsers, and selecting, "About Google Chrome" starts a check for new updates.

In the options setting of the wrench you can set your password memory preference, select where you want your downloaded files to be saved, choose your default search engine and Internet browser and customize your cookie settings. Just click on the different tabs to alternate between basic tweaks and advanced setup options.

Next, once you start visiting webpages, you will notice how the forward and back page buttons will be ready for use, just like Internet Explorer and Firefox, however at first glance, you don't have the option to go back a few pages at once. That option is there, but you have to right-click on the back or forward button to see your full range of options. You can even open up your history page by doing this. This omission is just another feature to give you a little more room in your browser.

Another nice touch is how Chrome's address bar doubles as a search box. When typing in a search term or a website's URL, you get a dropdown box filled with search suggestions, and possible website matches that can be clicked on before you finish typing your phrase. This is another way Chrome saves space in your browser. I didn't like the similar option with Firefox 3, but Chrome took the idea and improved upon it. I'm quite fond of it now.

To the left of the wrench button is the "Control the current page button." Here is where you will find basic tasks such as opening a new window or tab, copy, paste, print, character encoding, save page as, etc., but with Google Chrome comes a new option called incognito.

Opening a page in incognito will keep your page views from being logged on your computer's browser history and search history. Cookies will also be disabled. Bookmarks and downloads will be unaffected. You will know you are in incognito mode, because a little spy character will appear in the upper left corner of your browser until you cancel your incognito session.

If you would like more information about Chrome, Google has created an online comic book explaining why it was developed and what you can expect from a Chrome session. This googlebook can be found at http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/.