If I Could Say 15 Things About Google Chrome

If I Could Say 15 Things About Google Chrome

If I Could Say 15 Things About Google Chrome

I grew up using Internet Explorer because.  When I started using Macs I switched to Safari, and I have to admit up to that point–which was not that long ago– I believed web browsers were just a piece of software that let you look at things on the internet.  It wasn’t until I started using Chrome a couple of years ago that I realized just how useful a browser could be.  There is a plethora of browsers available.  IE, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, but Chrome has proven to be the more robust, quicker, and more secure than the other offerings out there.  There are people that have written articles and blog posts on all the little (and big) tips and tricks of Chrome.  Instead, I would like to opine 15 reasons why I love Chrome

15.  It is Fast

The title for fastest browser rotates between the major browsers, but Chrome spends more time at the top of the speed charts than the other browsers.

14. Chrome Profiles

As far as I know this a feature unique to Chrome.  You can create multiple profiles within Chrome.  This allows multiple users of the same computer to have a unique browser experience by allowing each user profile to have unique extensions, apps, history, bookmarks ,and settings.  You create a new profile in the settings menu.

13. Apps

This is Chrome’s unique take on shortcuts.  Websites are repackaged and curated in the Chrome Web Store.  Once an app is added to your Chrome profile you can access the apps from the app shortcut in the bookmark bar or from a third party extension like Blackmenu.  You can find a list of my favorite educational apps here.

12. Incognito Window

Private browsing is nothing new, but I love Chrome’s version of the private browser because it is quick to implement and quick to disable.  Simply open an Incognito window, accomplish what you need to accomplish, and close the window.  All browser history, cookies, applets, and whatnot are deleted when the browser is closed.

11. Shortcuts

Shortcuts can be created with any browser but when shortcuts are created with Chrome they take on the personality of an application.  Shortcuts lose the Omnibox, tabs, and extension/bookmark bars, leaving instead a nice, clean window.  It is a small but nice touch.  Create shortcut by navigating to the page you want to create a shortcut for then go tosettings>tools>create desktop shortcut.
 

10. The Omnibox

The Omnibox is what Google calls Chrome’s unified URL and search bar.  You can of course search and type in addresses, but its functionality goes well beyond that.  For example, you can type in simple math equations and get an instant answer.  You can also search your Gmail, calendar, and Drive accounts, as well as look up movie times and flights.  Check out this blog for a more robust list of Omnibox tricks.

9. Quick History List

View a history of sites you have visited on a particular tab by clicking and holding the back arrow.  This is a super quick way of searching your recent history without opening the history tab in settings.

8. Manipulating Tabs and Windows

You can do all kinds of crazy things with the tabs and windows in Chrome.  By clicking and drag a tab you can rearrange the order of tabs or drag the tab down to a new window.  You can drag multiple tabs together by holding shift and selecting the tabs you want to move.  Again they can be rearranged as a group or moved together into a new window.  You can combine windows by dragging the tabs from one window next to the tabs of another window.  I find this helpful to organize projects I’m working on, to minimize the number of open tabs, and to prevent myself from accidentally closing tabs I need open.

7. Startup Modes

Chrome allows the user to specify what it does when you open the browser.  You are given three options:  open a new tab, pick up where you left off, or open a specific page or set of pages.  This is great if you always open the same few pages every day or, like me, want to pick up right where I left off the day before.  To access this setting go the setting menu, select Settings>Show advanced settings>On startup.
 

6. The Tab Options

Right clicking on a tab brings up all kinds of useful options like opening a new tab, reloading the current tab, duplicating a tab, reopen an recently closed tab, and my favorites: close tabs, bookmark all tabs into a folder, and pin the tab.  The tab menu give you three options for closing tabs.  You can close the selected tab, close every tab but select tab, or close every tab to the right of the current tab.  If you are working on a project that includes several tabs that you will need access to again later, you can bookmark the entire set of tabs into a bookmark folder with one action by right clicking on any tab and selecting bookmark all tabs.  The most used feature from the tab menu actually gets its own spot on the list.  It is…

5. Pinned Tabs

Pinned tabs are a unique set of tabs that have a couple of special features.  Pinned tabs, when pinned, will move to the the far left of the tab bar, shrink in size, and will not close while pinned.  I use this to keep my most important or most often used tabs open and safe from accidental closing.  To pin a tab right click on the tab and select Pin tab.

4. Bookmarks

Bookmarking or favoriting functionality is a stalwart of web browsers and has been for over a decade, but I like Chrome’s bookmarking feature because of its ease, customization, and cross device accessibility.  Creating a bookmark in Chrome is as easy as clicking the star in the right of the Omnibox, naming the bookmark, and saving.  I can then customize the bookmarks by sorting them into folders, or making them a simple icon by deleting the text and leaving just the favicon.  Plus you can access your Chrome bookmarks from any device in which you have Chrome installed.  I can access bookmarks created on my desktop from my iPad or iPhone and vice versa.

3. History

For better or worse Google keeps track of everything we do.  The better part of that is that they keep the browser history of all your devices for as long as you will allow them.  By going to the settings menu and opening the history window you can see the browser history for every device you have signed into.  This is great for when you find a great website at home but need it at school the next day.

2. Recovering Recently Closed Tabs

Also, because Google keeps track of your browsing history you can recover Chrome tabs you closed and later realized you need to reopen.  Again this is not isolated to just the computer you are currently on.  You can open recently closed tabs from any device you have logged into.  To access this feature go to the setting menu and select Recent Tabs.

1. Extension

And finally, the driving force behind my love affair with Chrome.  Extensions are the rocket fuel and street mods (I know that is a conglomeration of two different metaphors) of the beast that is Chrome.  They allow for the functionality of Chrome to extend well beyond the confines of its programming.  I have another blog post that goes more in depth in regards to extensions, but I do want to highlight my favorites.
  • Blackmenu – the one stop quick access menu for all things Google.
  • Clipular – Screenshot extraordinaire.
  • Checker Plus for Gmail – Quick access to Gmail that is almost as robust as the Google service itself.
  • Save to Google Drive – The quickest way to save things you find on the web to Drive.
  • Goo.gl URL Shortner – Create short URLs and QR codes with a single click of a button.
  • LastPass – The award-winning champion of password keepers.
  • AdBlocker Plus – Blocks almost all of the annoying ads you find on websites.
  • Turn Off the Light – A great way to block unwanted content on Youtube.
  • Read&Write for Google – This has been a life saver when it comes to reading accommodations for students.
  • Clearly – Great for quickly preparing something to print without the annoying pictures, links, and advertisements, or just a way to read something in a less distracting format.
So there you have it.  Fifteen reasons why I love Chrome.  That multi-colored, ball shaped hole in my heart has been filled.  May you find some joy in Chrome yourself.
Alright, so I can’t help myself; one more thing I love about Chrome:  the experiments.  By typing chrome://flags you can access all the experimental things that Google is baking up in Chrome before it is officially released.  Some of the experiments “may bite” as the warning says but many are well worth the danger of being a first adopter.
I’m seriously done this time,
Cody

Google Groups – A Way to Discuss and Work as a Unit

On the top left of the page there is a red button that says ‘create group’ on it. Click this.


First you will need to decide on a group name, once that is done you can put it in the box titled ‘Group Name’

Then you will need a group email that everyone in the group can access ex: rcbulldogs@googlegroups.com

Now you will need to provide a description for your group, maybe stating the purpose of the group.

Now you will need to select a group type. There are four options that range from Q&A to a simple Email list

There are also basic permissions that control who view, post, and join on the group forum

Depending on the preferences you have will determine your choices

And you can control who views the group by selecting the options in ‘View Topics’

You can control who posts by selecting the options in the ‘Post’ section

You can control who joins your group using the options shown in ‘Join the Group’


Step 2 – Starting up your group

Adding a Welcome message – Adding a welcome message is a nice touch to provide a friendly welcome for new members of your group. You can do this by clicking ‘add welcome message’ located at the top of the page.

Creating your first post – By clicking ‘New Topic’ on the top left of the page, you can create a new post that members of the group can discuss on, or you can just make a simple announcement.


Hopefully this post has helped you understand Google Groups a bit more

Prom-tastic Planning

Prom-tastic Planning

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Geogebra Review

 

Using GeoGebra, you can create one of these graphs/tables:

 

  • Algebra
  • Geometry
  • Spreadsheets
  • CAS
  • 3D Graphics
  • Probability

 

Algebra – this page has a coordinate plane to work with. Select any of the tools at the top right of the screen to interact with the graph. When hovering over a tool, or option within that tool, a help box will appear at the bottom and tell you how to use that specific tool. Some examples of things you can insert are points, line, and rays.

 

Geometry – In the geometry portion of Geogebra, you start out with a blank canvas. Here, you can draw shapes as well as create angles. To the right of the screen, there will be an icon that has a blue triangle and a green circle overlapping. Click it to pull up a toolbar where you can access advanced settings to get the most out of this app.

 

Spreadsheets –  On the spreadsheets page, there is a graph and spreadsheet side-by-side. Using these tools you can create tables of data and graph them. Some other features this part of the program offers is matrices and functions such as mean, sum, maximum, and minimum.  Another cool thing that you can do is perform single or multiple variable analysis.

 

CAS –  The Computer Algebra System allows you to perform advanced algebra functions. It even has an option to factor expressions. How awesome is that? This  page works like the Algebra one, but has different functions in it. You can substitute numbers into functions and solve numerically for x.

 

3D Graphics – One thing that separates Geogebra from other mathematics programs is its ability to create 3D shapes and diagrams. The page contains a 3D coordinate plane, which allows you to make lines and shapes that are three-dimensional. Some of the functions it can perform are intersections between planes and find area or volume of a shape.

 

Probability –  This section of Geogebra has a probability graph. There are two tabs that you can choose to perform actions in: the Statistics and Distribution tab. The Distribution tab has the graph where you can predict domain and range. The Statistics tab allows you to perform tests of mean from a null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis.

Limitations on Turning in Assignments on Classroom

 

If there are any other problems when turning in assignments on classroom, please do not hesitate to contact the Chrome Squad so that we can assist.

How to use Thinglink!

Thinglink is an astounding creative presentation tool. One thing that separates Thinglink from other sites is Thinglink has image interaction. You are able to add points with files attached and it allows you to turn photos and other images into weblinks.

 

Getting Started:

To get started, first you need to download the app at the chrome web store or visit the website athttps://www.thinglink.com/. First, you need to create a profile, which can be done in two ways: either sign up with google plus or create an entirely new account.

 

Basic Navigation:

When you first log in to the site you will see a toolbar at the top which has several main tabs – these tabs help you navigate through the site. There is a search bar, and four tabs: Explore, Create, Upgrade, and Me. At the top right corner, there is a symbol with three horizontal lines that lets you access a separate menu for more options.

 

  • Search Bar – the search bar allows you to look for content made by other students. Use specific keywords to find the best results.
  • Explore – This tab allows you to see images that are touched or created by users that you follow. You can also see the images that the Thinglink team has provided, and see what images are top performers that day and that week.
  • Create – this tab is where you can create your very own image. Start by clicking the plus sign, and let the magic happen.
  • Upgrade – Here you can upgrade to Thinglink Pro, which has lots of useful features that are not included in the regular version.
  • Me – this is the place where all of your work is held. You can also view the amount of followers you have and how many people you are following. If someone wants to see your work, you can share the link to your page.
  • Main Menu (three lines) – the main menu is where you can adjust settings, change your password, find your groups, and logout.

 

Creating an Image and Inserting points (Tags):

The first thing to do is go to the create tab and create an image. Once in the create tab, you can choose to upload a picture from your computer or web as well as import images from other sites such as facebook and Flickr. Once you have decided on an image you can insert a tag (or point). Click anywhere on the screen to create a tag.

 

Uploading files (videos/pictures):

There are four different ways to upload images and videos.

 

  1. Upload images and videos straight from a hard drive.
  2. Use a URL to load images or videos
  3. Sync up with your Facebook and upload images from your account
  4. Search Flickr users to upload any of their last 20 photos.

 

Publishing:

Once your work is ready to go, publishing is easy. Open up the image or video and select the “Share” button. Either click on an icon for one of the linked platforms or copy and paste the URL or embed code.