Chrome is a fairly simple browser for the end user, but it has many built-in pages for advanced settings, tweaks, testing, and more. All of these pages are hidden behind the prefix chromium://. We will go through here those which seem to me to be the most interesting.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it's important to understand how these pages work. Chrome: //.
Enter Chrome: // in Chrome's address bar, followed by the page you want to access… It's a bit like typing in a web page address, except here the prefix is Chrome: // instead of http://.
So for example and to start, we will look at the main page of this navigation system: chrome://about.
chrome://about : the list of all hidden pages in Chrome
As you will have understood, I did not take this example by chance. chrome://about displays the list of all the pages that you can access with chrome://.
In addition, this page is very practical since the links are clickable... so if you had to keep only one, it would be of course chrome://about.
If you browse through the list a bit, you will see that most of these pages link to Chrome settings items. So chrome://chrome takes you to the Chrome updates page, chrome://bookmarks to managing your favorites, chrome://apps allows you to see installed applications, chrome://newtab opens a new tab…
In short, chrome://about is therefore the right place to start and discover the different existing pages if you did not know them.
chrome://flags: enter the Chrome lab
chrome://flags is probably the most popular of all chrome:// pages, because this is where Google hides its experimental features – things that are in the works, but not yet ready for the general public. You’ll be able to see all the beta features there, enabled with a single button, so if any problems arise, you can easily revert to the basic settings.
There are all kinds of hidden features here, but it is important to keep in mind that these tools are still under development. This means they can break other parts of Chrome or cause instability issues. These features can disappear at any time if Google deems them unsatisfactory or too buggy.
But hey, if you have some time it's still nice to explore.
chrome://system : detailed information about your Chrome version
This page gathers a number of information about your browser and your computer. You will see your version of Chrome, but also the version of your operating system and much more!
There's a lot going on on this page, and most of the information here won't be useful to average users. But if you're looking for advanced details on Chrome's network usage, this is where you'll find it.
chrome://site-engagement: what are your favorite sites?
This page is quite interesting (even compromising)nte) since it reveals to you the websites that you use the most or on which you spend the most time. Your "engagement" with a site is therefore represented by a score out of 100. If you no longer visit a site, its score will gradually decrease to return to 0 and make the site disappear from the list.
chrome://user-actions : record user actions
As the name suggests, this page once launched, will log all actions performed by the user on Chrome. This includes things like page loads, tab switches, clicks…
In short, you will have understood, under its very "user friendly" aspects, Chrome has very powerful resources to go deeper into its operation and into the information that the browser retrieves on its use. If you are a little curious, I invite you to take a look around these hidden pages... in all sincerity there are many that I have not understood the use of... but I am a novice!
As a forty-something dad fascinated by the web, I spend a lot of my time keeping watch to find you the best news. Tips and tricks, humor, websites and high-tech are the main subjects I want to cover here… but I will not fail to offer you good deals gleaned here and there on the web…
