Chrome is certainly one of the browsers most popular and the one that most of us probably use in our day-to-day lives. Although, precisely because of this, we are all already quite familiar with it, we may still miss some of the possibilities and functions that offers us: we review all of them so that you make sure that you get the maximum match.
Chrome: one of the best browsers
We recently debated What is the best browser, taking into account several sections, and it was clear that we cannot highlight one for any type of user and device, since there will always be some that adapt better than others to certain priorities, but Chrome is undoubtedly among them and is also , a very balanced option: although it is not the fastest but we must recognize its low memory consumption and it also has many interesting extras, which we will see in more detail (synchronization, data saving, reading mode ...).
How to sync tabs and favorites between devices
We are going to start with one of its star features, which is the possibility of synchronizing our tabs and favorites, something especially interesting because Chrome It is one of the browsers that we also use the most on PC and is available for both Android and iPad, which ensures total continuity between all our devices. For this we only have to enable the corresponding options, as we show you in this tutorial to sync Chrome tabs and then we will see the ones we have open in each site in the "recent tabs" section in the three-point menu.
How to control it faster and easier by gestures
In general the use of Chrome It is very intuitive and fluid, but not everyone is aware that there are some tricks to control it even easier. For example, when accessing the menu we can stay on it and choose the function we are looking for in a single gesture, because the scroll remains fixed on the screen once selected. It is also interesting to know that we can navigate between tabs not only through the multitasking that opens when we press the square next to the menu, but also from the address bar, dragging left or right. From that same position, if we drag down, we update the page.
Operate it more comfortably with one hand
Going a little further on what has already been said about the controls of Chrome, and especially to take even more advantage of the possibility of navigating between tabs through the navigation bar, if we are in a phablet or compact tablet, we can make all this even more comfortable placing it down: down we write in the address bar "chrome: // flags / # enable / chrome / home”, We accept, and when we open the Chrome experimental options page, the function that interests us will appear already highlighted, we choose“Enabled”And we restarted.
Copy, paste and search more easily
This is more of a reminder than anything else, because it is designed to be extremely intuitive to use and anyone who uses Chrome with some frequency will already know that with a long press on certain texts we access basic functions quickly: on a web address it gives us the option to copy, on a word it also gives us the option to search and on an address, telephone or email it proposes the corresponding actions (go to maps, call , add to contacts, send an email ...).
Use read mode on any website
Reading web pages is always more comfortable on our tablet but even more so if we can use the reading mode. In Chrome it is not yet among its basic functions, but it can also be used experimentally, such as repositioning the address bar. In this case we write "chrome: // flags / # reader-mode-heuristics”, We accept and again we have to choose the option we prefer and accept. This time we will see a lot of options to choose from: we can always force it or only for articles or for pages with a similar structure.
Zoom in on any page
In many web pages optimized for mobile devices we will find that we cannot zoom even if we want to, but Chrome gives us an option to ignore this restriction if we need to: we just have to go to the settings menu and in the "Advanced configuration" walk into "accessibility”. There, in addition to allowing us to adapt the size to which the text will adapt automatically if we double-click, we can enable the option "force zoom".
Convert a page into an app
Another of the experimental options of Chrome that it does not hurt to take into account is that of turn a page into an app, which can even be shown in our app drawer, along with the others downloaded from Google Play. Again we go to the search bar and this time we write "chrome: // flags / # enable-improved-a2hs”. We are not going to see the changes immediately in this case, but when we enable it, what will happen is that every time we visit a website for which this option is available, we will get a notice so that we can decide if we want to apply it.
Change search engine
Although for most the best option is still to use GoogleIt should be noted that if you prefer other search engines, you can change it in the settings menu. The option appears at the top, in "basic setup”, And we can choose between Google, Yahoo! AND Bing. It is interesting that there are other options a little more special, such as the one to put directly as a search engine Amazon (It was supposed that we could also do it with Wikipedia, but that option is not integrated yet).
Download websites to read offline (and program them)
If we are trying to save data, or especially for a tablet, which normally will not have a mobile connection, it is always interesting to remember that we can download any web that interests us so that we can consult it offline at any time. And if at the moment we decide to do it we find ourselves offline, we don't have to worry because an option will appear for "download later", Which leaves it scheduled and does it as soon as we are back online.
Reduce data consumption
Downloading a website is not the only way we have to reduce our data consumption with Chrome, since we must remember that it has a specific function for it and in this case we do not have to do anything special to activate it: we have it in the settings menu among the options of "Advanced configuration", Click on"data saving”And we just enable it. What it does is simply compress the pages that we are going to visit before downloading them.
Load pages faster
We now return to the experimental functions of Chrome And we do it not to save data but for those who want to make sure that the pages load as quickly as possible, using a faster decompression system. As in the other cases, we go to the address bar and this time we write "chrome: // flags / # enable-brotli”And we accept. The option that interests us appears again highlighted in yellow and all we have to do is choose “Enabled”And restart
Browse incognito mode
Another very basic function, but which we cannot fail to include in this guide either: although we are especially concerned about our Privacy there are browsers specifically designed for this, at least we can always resort to Chrome To navigate in incognito mode and avoid that our activity is recorded in history. Accessing this function is also very simple: in the drop-down that opens with the three dots, at the top, below “new tab", have "incognit new tabo ".
Open two tabs in multi-window (Android Nougat)
We are now going to some of the star functions of the latest versions of Android to see how to use them with Chrome, starting with the multi-window de Android Nugget. We start by opening the multi-window with Chrome as we would with any other app, so we open the browser and hold down the multitasking button and we have two windows left, one on top of the other. The top one will be the Chrome one and we will have accessible the three-point menu, which is where we have to press and we will immediately see the option "move to another window”, Which will leave us two tabs open in parallel.
Watch a YouTube video in Picture in Picture (Android Oreo)
We end up with a function that can be used by those who already have Android Oreo and that for them, in fact, it may be the best alternative to watch YouTube on PiP, since unfortunately it is a novelty that most cannot enjoy directly in their own app natively. As we recently showed you in that tutorial, the trick for videos play in Chrome in a floating window, it is simply to go first to the desktop version (in the three-point menu we mark “computer website”) Before hitting play. From there it only remains to go to full screen and press the home button to go to the home screen.