Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

Secret settingsand the bestextensions

43

BESTEXTENSIONFOR... AccessingGoogletools

BlackMenuforGoogle

Chromium&Firefox

http://www.snipca.com/ 40421

Googleletsyouaccessitsvastrangeof

toolsbyclickingthe‘Googleapps’icon

thatappearsinthetop-rightcornerofits

sites(thislookslikeasquaremadeofnine

dots). Butstrangely,itdoesn’tofferaway

tolaunchthemwhenyou’reelsewhere

ontheweb,whichiswhereBlackMenu

comesinhandy.Thisextensiongives

youinstantaccesstodozensofGoogle

toolsinonehandydropdownpanel(see

screenshot). Themostpopular–including

Search,Maps,Gmail,YouTubeandDrive–

arelistedinitsdefaultmenu,andyoucan

addmorebydragginganddroppingthem

intoplace.Contentfrommanyservicescan

bedisplayedintheadd-on,withoutyou

needingtovisittherelevantGooglesite,

thoughsomerequireyoutosignintoyour

Googleaccount.BlackMenualsooffers

achoiceofthemesandletsyousetup

notificationsforyourfavouriteGoogletools.

If you don’tlikethat,try...

ShortcutsforGoogleProducts

Chromium

http://www.snipca.com/ 40422

ThisextensionisevensimplerthanBlack

Menu,offeringapanelofshortcutsto

Googletoolsthatarerepresentedsolely

bytheirlogos.Youcanremoveproducts

youdon’tuse,andresizetheiconstomake

themeasiertoclick.

nodataispassedtothirdparties–unlike
GoogleTranslate.
Youcanalsomanageyourdownloads
viathesidepanel,butVivaldi 5 .0adds
analternativemethod,intheformofa
pop-outpanelinthetop-rightcornerof
thebrowser.Thisincludesdetailsofthe
filesize,whenthedownloadstarted(and
finished),aprogressbarandagraph
chartingthedownloadspeed.

EDGE
Changeyourdefault
searchengine
Microsofthasmadeitdifficulttoset
anythingbutEdgeasyourdefault
browserinWindows 1 1,thoughitwill
makethingseasierinanyupcoming
update–seeourNewsstoryinIssue 622
(page6).InEdgeitself,it’snotobvious
howtochang eyourdefault search engine
from Bing,because theoption is tucked
away,but it is possible.
Clickthe three-dotmenubuttonint he
top-ri ghtcorner of thebrowser and
chooseSettings,then‘Privacy,search
andservices ’. Scrolltothe bottom of
thepageand cl ick‘Addressbar an dsearch’
(anoptionsoeasytomiss it seems
delib erately hidd en). Clic kthe dropdown

menunextto

‘Searchengine

usedinthe

addressbar’

andchangethe

defaultfromBing

toyourpreferred

searchprovider,

suchasGoogle,

DuckDuckGoor

Yahoo.

Ifyourfavourite

searchengineisn’t

listed,select

‘Managesearch

engines’(see

screenshotbelowleft),thenopenanew

browsertabandvisitthewebsite

forthatprovider.Edgeshoulddetectit

automaticallyandaddittothe‘Search

engine’list. Youcan then go back to the

previous page andset your prefer red

sear ch engine as thebrowser’s default.

CHROMIUM

Applyamoderndesign

to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is abrilliantfreeresource, but

whileits arti cles areinteresti ng

to read, thewebsite’s dated,

text-heavylayout can feel dull

to browse.Tomakethe

encyclop ediamoreengaging,

installthe ne wextension

Modern Design forWikipedia

(www.snipca.com/40417),

whichgives thesiteafres hlook

andaddsseveralusefulfeatures.Aswell

asenlargingthefontandcleaningup

pagestomakecontenteasiertoread,it

letsyoujumptospecificsectionsofan

articleviaamenuontheleft–clickthe

three-linebuttontoopenthis.

Youcan also view your Wikipedia

history by clicki ng theclock icon in the

topright, lettingyou quicklyjumpback

to pagesyou’veviewed, andfind articles

faste rusing theimprovedsearchbox,

whichhelpf ullyincludes descriptions

andimagesinits autocomplete function.

To customiseWikipedia’sappearance

further ,click the‘AA’iconint he top-

rightcorner.Hereyou can adjustthe text

size, font,column widthand line height,

andapplydifferentdarkmodes (see

screenshot above),asw ellasapink hue.

If youhaveany problems viewing

pages, simply clickthe extension’s

toolba rbuttonand disableModern

Design forWikipedia, to switch backto

theoriginalsitedesign.

Issue 623 •19 –1February 2022