Chrome Web Store Redesigned

If you have visited the Google Chrome Web Store today you may have noticed that Google redesigned the store completely. The layout of the page has been streamlined into a minimalistic listing of apps, extensions and themes.

The page has three core elements. First the sidebar menu linking to application categories and extensions and themes for the Chrome web browser, then the main area with big thumbnail images and little information about each application, theme or extension and then the search to find specific items in the store.

Some categories use a different display. The family category for instance uses small icons instead of thumbnails so that more applications fit on a single page.

Each application or extension listed is displayed with its name and either a rating or the number of users. It feels rather strange that some applications show ratings while others show the user count instead. When you move the mouse cursor over a thumbnail you will see a short description and a button to add it directly to the Chrome browser.

A click on an application opens the application’s page in an overlay on the same page. the page includes an overview, both ratings and user counts, details, reviews and thumbnails.

Reviews have been moved to their own tab in the overlay so that it takes additional clicks to access those when compared to the previous layout of the Chrome web store.

The listing pages load additional apps and extensions automatically when the user scrolls down, eliminating the need to switch pages manually.

Extensions and themes are the only two categories with sub-listings. It does not seem to be possible anymore to sort the extensions or apps by popularity, last update or other metrics which limits the usability of the listing tremendously. It is for instance no longer possible to identify new extensions in the store.

The new Chrome Web Store layout and design looks as if it was optimized for touch based devices. You find big thumbnail images in most categories that are easy to tap on. Desktop users will miss sorting options as well as options to change the display of the listings.

Have you been to the new Chrome Web Store yet? If so, what do you think of it? (thanks Vineeth)

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Advanced Find For Chrome, Include Inflections In Search

All modern web browsers come with options to search the active web page for specific words or phrases. None as far as I know support wildcard searches or the inclusion of inflections. The Google Chrome extension efTwo Advanced Find on Page adds support for the latter to the Chrome web browser.

Sometimes when I search on a website I try to select a search term that includes inflections. Say I’m looking for the terms replace or replacing on the website. For that I would have to enter replac in the search form so that both terms are found on the page. Another example is the search term use which would reveal not only all instances of use on the page but also used, user and using.

With the Chrome extension, you can enter one term and find all occurrences of all matching terms highlighted on the page.

You bring up the advanced search form after installation by either pressing F2 once of the f-key twice in rapid succession.

The extension highlights all occurrences on the page. If you add more than one search term you will notice that each is colored differently. That’s interesting as it allows you to run multiple searches at once on a page.

The program found all occurrences of use and printing on the page. It will furthermore highlight the total result count in the search form. You can use the up and down arrow buttons to scroll to the next or previous occurrence of a search result on the active web page.

The inflection detection works both ways. You can enter use to find using or user, or enter using to find user or use as well on the page.

Advanced Search on Page is a handy Chrome extension for users who want to find related phrases on a website during searches. The free Chrome extension can be installed at the official Chrome Web Store.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: advanced search, Chrome, chrome extensions, google chrome, search