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Chrome makes browsing the Web quick and easy. In this lesson, we'll talk about navigating to websites in Chrome. You'll also learn how use tabs, access your browsing history, and view your downloads.
If you don't have much experience using a web browser, you may want to check out our lesson on Using a Web Browser, which covers the basic points of Internet browsing in more detail.
Watch the video below to learn the basics of browsing in Chrome.
Some browsers use an address bar for navigating to websites and a search bar for conducting web searches. Google Chrome combines these two elements into one bar, known as the Omnibox. By integrating Google's search technology, the Omnibox offers suggestions for websites or potential web searches as you type, which makes navigating the Web faster and easier.
Chrome uses three buttons for navigation in the top navigation bar: the Back, Forward, and Refresh buttons.
Like all browsers, Chrome allows you to open new windows to view different pages. In addition, Chrome allows you to open multiple websites in the same window using tabs. Tabs are usually more convenient than opening several windows at the same time.
You can also press Ctrl+Tab on your keyboard to switch between open tabs.
Tabs can also make it easier to browse the Web. If you find a link to a website, you can open that link in a new tab. This allows you to open the site without losing your place on the original page.
Tabs can be moved, pulled in and out of windows, and even pinned into place for easy access.
If you want to view two tabs at the same time, it's easy to pull a tab to its own window.
If there are some pages you use every time you open your browser, like your email or calendar, you might consider pinning the tab. Pinned tabs will open automatically whenever you start Chrome, making your favorite pages easy to access.
Whenever you open a new tab, the New Tab page will appear. This page contains a Google search bar and shortcuts to your most visited sites. Taking a little time to become familiar with the New Tab page will make browsing the Web that much faster.
Sometimes, you may want to remove certain websites from the New Tab Page.
Like all browsers, Chrome saves details and cookies from every website you visit, which you can view from the History tab. Chrome uses some of this information to decrease load times for sites you visit regularly. Chrome also allows you to search your history to find a previously viewed page and to delete your history for the sake of privacy.
Review our lesson on Chrome Privacy and Security to learn how to delete your browser history.
Chrome can display many different types of documents, media, and other files, such as PDF and MP3 files. But there may be times when you'll want to access a file outside of the browser. To do this, you'll need to download the file directly to your computer.
For example, suppose you need to complete and print a form you find online. You could download it to your computer, then open it with the appropriate program (such as Microsoft Word) to edit it.
If you click a link to a file, it may download automatically. However, depending on the file type, it may just open within the browser. To prevent a file from opening in Chrome, you can use Save link as to download it to your computer.
For various reasons, many websites do not allow you to download content. For example, YouTube does not offer a way to download its videos.
The Downloads tab allows you to view and manage all of your downloads.
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