FAQ for the Chrome Browser

Chrome offers a refined interface where many functions are hidden. The aim is to hide the complexity of operations under the simplicity of use.

A question which is not included in the FAQ? You can post it in comments...
You can also type F1 (from Chrome) to access the help center.

This FAQ does not duplicate the Chrome FAQ by Google that explains how to solve problems you could encounter.

How to display the Home button to go to the homepage of the browser?

Open simply the "Options" menu in tools and in the "Basics" tab, click on "Show Home button on the toolbar."

How to load a local page?

There are two ways to view a page stored on his computer:
- Type in the path in the address bar, for example: c:\mydir\myfile.html
- Type CTRL+O to open a dialog box.

How to get the history of visited pages?

Click the right mouse button on the back button, the first at left. If there are several tabs, that displays the list of pages previously shown in the active tab.

Where are the bookmarks?

The list of bookmarks appears below the toolbar. Type CTRL+B to show or hide it.

How to navigate in incognito mode?

Chrome has a private mode as InPrivate in IE8, called "Incognito". You may open a tab incognito by typing CTRL + SHIFT + N.

Is Silverlight supported by Chrome?

Silverlight works by default without having to add a plugin. That shows the Web applications aim of the browser. You can get the list of installed modules by typing in the URL bar the command:

about:plugins

You can also test the Silverlight plugin with the demonstrations of the XAML tutorial. They should all work in order.

Does Chrome support HTML 5?

Canvas, the graphics rendering surface is implemented into Webkit.
Each new Chrome version bring a higher level of compatibility and the version 5 implements a large part of the specification.

How to define the download directory?

The directory is specified in the "Minor Tweaks" tab displayed by the "Options" menu.

How to get internal information about the browser?

With the command about, as about: plugins. The list of possible parameters:

cache crash dns hang histograms internets memory network plugins shorthang (the browser crashes) stats version.

When you press simultaneously the SHIFT + ESC keys, it shows you the list of tasks in progress ...

Where can I get the keyboard shortcuts?

Some essential shortcuts:

Where can I find help on how to use Chrome or solve a problem?

A help center is available on the Google site to help users.

What is the user agent?

The user agent is the header that identifies the source of a request (for access to the site) and that is reflected in the statistics.
It is similar to that of Mozilla:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.27 Safari/525.13

The numbers 0.2.149.27 and 525.13 are version numbers (the browser and Webkit versions) and will change with each new edition of the browser.
The AppleWebkit term refers to the version of the rendering engine, borrowed from Safari and Konqueror.

Where to get the sources?

Chrome is based on the Chromium project. Go to the site to obtain the source with instructions to compile it.

Chrome can it have extensions like Firefox?

Contrary to expectations, the ability to add extensions were included early in the browser.

Does the browser send any information on me to Google?

This is denied by Matt Cutts. We must not forget that the browser is open source and it is easy (for programmers) by reading the source code to know exactly what the program does.

Why has Google created Chrome?

There is already a plethora of browsers and competitors are struggling to establish themselves faced with Internet Explorer. But the avowed aim of Google, as expressed in the comic book, is to develop the technology of browsers, to propose something new that will require developers to improve their product too.
Browsers have been designed there is a dozen years while the Web was different. To run the applications of Web 2.0, it must start from scratch and create something completely new.

Why this name, Chrome?

There was no official reason for this choice except that the word evokes elegance. However we can see that Chrome is the name of the directory of XUL applications and that in the root directory of Mozilla Firefox it contains the main DLL of the browser. This could have inspired the creators of the software.
Microsoft has in the past drawn up plans for a multimedia system named as a first step Chrome, then Chromeffect. The project was then merged with DirectX.

The Chrome logo evokes a bit of Firefox with the Google colors and precise boundaries of a Poké Ball, which gives the combination below:

These are perhaps only similarities. Here is another explanation that makes sens since the release of Google Chrome OS:

The chrome logo has changed in March 2011. Old logo. New logo.

Chrome allows to know the resources used by a page. How?

Click the right mouse button over the page. At the bottom of the popup menu, click on Inspect elements. A window will open.
Click on the "Resources" tab. Reload the page or any page for loading times or sizes of elements. The Time and Size menu allows you to switch from one to another.

How to open a new window?

In other words, how to have a different version of the browser on the desktop. Type Ctrl-N.
To open a new tab click the plus sign or type CTRL-T.

Can I install a web application locally?

This is done by Prism with Firefox, and Chrome has a solution that is also very simple and automatic.
Howewer Chrome must be always loaded while Prism uses a lightweight version of Firefox.

How to turn Chrome into a notepad

The whole page is made editable in typing this in the URL bar:

data:text/html, <html contenteditable>

Your note are then typed from the menu or with CTRL-S. This works on any recent browser.

Retrieving bookmarks

Google experiments bookmakrs synchronization on its services and this may possibly remove your bookmarks.
Type:

chrome://flags/#enhanced-bookmarks-experiment

And disable the option.