October 2013: You can leap into the colorful world of tiles on a grid without having to leap into a whole new operating system. It doesn’t even matter if you use a PC — Awesome New Tab Page from Chrome makes it super easy on any computer.
A quick download gets you started, then add App and Widget tiles and arrange them any way you want. Here’s how it works:
To change from this default Chrome start screen
to this Awesome New Tab Page start screen
that looks almost exactly like this Windows 8 screen,
you need to first download Chrome, Google’s browser if you haven’t already. Then visit the Chrome Web Store to download ATNP. You can always switch back to the default page later if you change your mind.
Once you’re running ATNP, in the upper left corner you’ll see icons for Configure, Apps, Widgets, Recently Closed Tabs and Unlock. Click cap unlock so you can move the tiles around to set them up the way you want. To add more tiles, drag-and-drop new tiles from the Apps and Widgets icon popups. You can also change the size and background colors of most tiles by pulling on the handles, and if you want to get rid of a tile, just click the x.
To get more stuff for your dashboard, search Awesome New Tab Page in Chrome Web store. Examples include Weather, Gmail, Wikipedia, Notepad, Bigger Notes, Dictionary, Urban Dictionary, and, yes, Angry Birds (uh-oh).
To access 20 of Google’s own apps — YouTube, Google+, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Picasa and more — just click on the little icons on the big Google tile.
As long as you’re using ANTP, you’ll get your personally designed start screen each time you open a new tab or window in Chrome. So search, launch, scroll and leap into a Windows 8 look without having to change or learn anything else.
| You may also be interested in: |
