ofCourse Consulting - Google Chrome

Google Chrome

Using the Google Chrome Browser

Once you have successfully created a Google account, it's a good idea to become comfortable with using Google Chrome, which is the recommended web browser for running Google applications. Keep in mind that you can also use other browsers such as Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Edge, Amazon's Silk, as well as Firefox, and Opera. We will walk through Chrome's fundamentals that you should know while you are progressing through the workshop exercises and using these software tools in the future.

Starting the browser

You can start the Google Chrome browser by single clicking on the browser's icon on your computer's taskbar (easiest if it's there) (see Figure 1), by double clicking on the browser's icon on your computer's desktop (second easiest if it's there) (see Figure 2), or by finding it in the Start Menu of Windows (least preferred but it's always there) (see Figure 3). Once you've chosen your method to start Google Chrome, a Google Chrome window will open along with your home page (which is usually but not always https://www.google.com)

Table 1 - Web Sites /URLS

Figure 1 - Taskbar Icon

Figure 2 - Desktop Icon

Figure 3 - Start Menu

The Address Bar. The Address Bar (See the red box shown in Figure 4) shows you the website you are browsing or where you are "located" on the internet. Some examples of some good websites (particularly for seniors) are shown in Table 1.
The Home Button. The Home Button (identified in green on Figure 4) will bring you back to your home page on your current tab with the Google Chrome browser window. Intitially, that will be configured as https://www.google.com, but you can choose to make any page your home page and then the home button will take you there.
The Refresh Button. The Refresh Button (identified in magenta in Figure 4) "refreshes" the current page that you are visiting. Since the internet is continuously being updated, sometimes it may be necessary to click the Refresh button to get an update on the data shown on the web page. An example might be if you are tracking a weather event or election and you need to see up to the second information.
The Back/Forward Buttons. Activating the Back/Forward Buttons (identified in blue in Figure 4) gives the user access to the previous page or the last page visited. They also provide a menu of the user's browsing history displaying the pages that have been visited.
The New Tab Button. The New Tab button (identified in gold in Figure 4 and shown as a plus "+" sign) is an extremely powerful tool for using the internet and is important when going through these exercises. When you click on the New Tab button or the plus sign, you get an independent web page that starts with your home page. You can also create new tabs by right-clicking on links in webpages and selecting the option to open them in new pages. Finally, you can rearrange your tabs by dragging and dropping them accordingly. (see the demonstration in Figure 5)

Figure 4 - Google Chrome Browser and its components

Figure 5 - Creating and rearranging new tabs

Figure 6 - Favorite Button

The Favorites Button. The Favorites button (identified in light blue in Figure 6 and shown as a star sign) is a tool for saving and organizing your commonly used web sites for later use. When you land on a web page that you may want to use later, click on the Favorites button. You will be prompted for a Favorites folder or subfolder to save the web page address in.

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