Google Chrome 3 Adds Better Extension And Themes Support
The latest developer release of the Google Chrome web browser introduces two important changes that change how extensions and themes are handled by it.
You may remember that Google Chrome users had to enable support for the extension engine by launching it with the --enable-extensions command line parameter.
This has been changed in the latest version of Google Chrome, which is currently 3.0.195.4 as extensions are now supported by default. This means in turn that it is no longer necessary to launch the browser with the parameter to enable extension support.
The second important addition changes theme support in the web browser. The developers have again turned the rather complex process of installing new Google Chrome themes into a much simpler process.
Users who wanted to install themes in the web browser had to replace a file in the Google Chrome directory up until now.
The problem with this approach was that it would overwrite the default theme in the process which could cause all kinds of troubles especially for users without backup.
Theme support has now been added officially to the Google browser which means that themes can be directly installed from within Google Chrome.
A basic theme manager is available in the options that allows users to revert back to the default theme after installing a new theme.
There is unfortunately no way of displaying the installed themes right now which is something that the developers surely plan to add in a later development stage.
A get themes button is also provided in the same menu. This button opens a website that is currently unavailable but is most likely the address of the official Google Chrome theme repository.
Update: The theme options in the most recent version of Google Chrome look like this:
As you can see, both the get themes and the reset to default theme button are still present. Get themes opens the themes category on the official Chrome web store.
It features lots of themes for you to browser and install directly from the store. End
Two test themes have been created by Google Chrome developers which can be accessed on the Chromium website. Camo and Snowflake are currently not accessible as well but were earlier on.
Webupd8 has posted screenshots of the Camo theme and the prompt that appears when you try to install it in the Chrome browser.
The two changes to the extension engine and theme support are definitely important steps for the Google browser as it moves it closer to Firefox and other browsers that support browser add-ons and themes.
It is now much easier to work with extensions and themes, and future builds will surely continue to improve on that and provide access to a theme manager and working websites where themes can be downloaded.
Google Chrome is up to date. (3.0.195.33)
and NO extensions
old method doesn’t work for turning them on.
WTF!
wish I could travel to the future when this blog is relevant and version 3.0.195.4 is released.
What extensions?
Where’s my ad blocker?
You can see what extensions you have (including themes) installed by putting this address in your web browser.
chrome://extensions/
I found this method on a website that I visited. I believe this is something built into the browser and not an external web site.
“This has been changed in the latest version of Google Chrome, which is currently 3.0.195.4.”
I’ve got 3.0.196.2 installed and extensions aren’t enabled, just themes. The older way with the target parameter doesn’t work, too. Frustrating.
The two themes mentioned above can be installed from http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/test/data/extensions/ Just look for theme.crx and theme2.crx for camo and snowflake themes respectively. You can view both the themes from the chrome://extensions page.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
The two themes mentioned above can be installed from http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/test/data/extensions/ Just look for theme.crx and theme2.crx for camo and snowflake themes respectively. You can view both the themes from the chrome://extensions page.