Digital Streets

I’ve really enjoyed using Google’s new browser, Chrome.  The simple interface and speedy rendering are great features and the missing features aren’t too bad, keeping in mind that it is beta.  As with every other piece of software that I use, I couldn’t wait to start customizing it to see what I could do with it to better meet my needs.  Here’s what I did.

I wanted to change the look a bit so I downloaded and installed the Zombre theme.  I decided to use it because most themes look a little odd with the Bookmarks bar not being colored to match the theme.  The Zombre theme looks more complete, but gives it a custom look.

Since I constantly am going to Tech-Recipies, Gmail, and Google Reader, I configured Chrome to load multiple pages at startup.  While I had the Options window open, I went ahead and put the Home Button on the toolbar. 

I then turned my attention to the Bookmarks bar.  Since Chrome is still in beta, the only place that you can really add any functionality is this toolbar.  I made shortcuts for my most commonly accessed sites and then made the Bookmarks bar display as Icons Only for those sites since they used favicons that are easy to recognize. 

 
Since Chrome doesn’t have a sidebar like Firefox, I had to utilize a little Javascript and create popup windows so I could continue to have the convenience of necessities like Google Talk, Gmail’s Compose Mail, Hahlo (my favorite Twitter client) and a quick Add Task window for Remember the Milk. 

One thing that I wish Chrome had was a Print button so I can quickly print out a quick email or something off of the web.  Since that feature hasn’t yet been included in the browser, I went ahead and made my own.  It was actually very simple to put a Print button on the Bookmarks bar.

I use a variety of sites and tools to share various information with friends and family.  Since I didn’t want to overcrowd the Bookmarks bar, I went ahead and created a folder to store the various bookmarklets I wanted to access.  Now I can easily post a link to Twitter or StumbleUpon, email it, etc.