Not many people know this, but Google Chrome is based on Chromium, an open source browser project. Everyone willing can download the source code, and make a few tweaks to their own Chrome-like browser. That’s right, Firefox isn’t the only contender showing off their code!
Although there are a whole bunch of Firefox spin-offs, Chrome is still pretty much solitary – at least, it used to be.
ChromePlus
Created by Maple Studio, ChromePlus is a Google Chrome alternative that uses the Chromium source code. They’ve released a Chrome spin-off, with some additional features that should make the browser even more fun to use.
ChromePlus looks pretty much the same as its Google brother, and also has the same basic features and strengths – but as a Google Chrome alternative it has a few extra presents under the hood. Read on for a sneak preview of those additions, and see why you’re going to uninstall your current browser in a few minutes time.
Super Drag
Super Drag is an incredible feature that’ll speed up your browsing and research work infinitely. It gives you two nifty extra functions.
Most straightforward is link-dragging. By dragging a link, and releasing it anywhere on the page, the link will automatically be opened in a background tab. This is especially useful on laptops, where you don’t have a scroll button and would have to work with Control-click.
If you start dragging around pieces of highlighted text, a whole other thing happens. Release your mouse anywhere on the screen and a Google search query will be opened in a new tab. Next time you’re reading a text and encounter something you don’t wholly understand, grab a hold and flick your mouse. This makes ChromePlus into an amazing research tool.
You can specify if the new tab needs to open in the background (default) or foreground of your browser in the options, or disable the function altogether.
IE Tab
IE Tab isn’t new. That is, to Firefox users. It’s one of the most famous Firefox add-ons. The biggest difference is that it’s now implemented in Chrome.
Innovating or not, IE Tab can be a life-saver. Although the practice is dying, some web-developers still feel the need to limit their web experience to Internet Explorer browsers. If you ever encounter a webpage that you can’t access with your Chrome browser, don’t close the app. By pressing the browser logo at the right of your address bar, you can make your browser seem like Internet Explorer.
New tabs should open up in Chrome mode by default. If they don’t, reversing the process is as easy as you’d think. This time, hit the Internet Explorer button to switch worlds.
Arrow Trace
We already told you how Super Drag was going to make your browsing a lot faster. Here’s another feature that’ll give your productivity a boost.
By holding your right mouse button, and drawing on the screen, you can execute a variety of commands; scrolling up and down, switching tabs, opening a new page, and so on. We call these “mouse gestures”.
To give you a general idea, here are a few examples:
- straight down makes you scroll down a page
- straight up makes you scroll up a page
- straight left lets you go back in browser history
- straight right lets you advance in browser history
- up, sharp left makes you go to the previous tab
- up, sharp right makes you go to the next tab (screenshot example)
They’ll take some getting used to, but can make your life a lot easier! If you don’t feel like it, you can once again disable it in the options.
Double-Hit-Close
Not that much of an innovation, but you can close a tab by double-clicking it. No more marksmanship required with that little ‘close’ button.
Download Manager Integration
Those using Chrome have probably noticed that it doesn’t support a hell of a lot of download managers. Most of the time, you’ll still be obliged to copy-paste your links.
ChromePlus has integrated download functionality for a whole bunch of popular download applications. Next time, just right-click your links to have them sent over to your download manager.
You can download ChromePlus here
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