Google Chrome for SP3/Metro Interface?

[spasell]

Google brings Chrome OS straight into Windows 8 in latest update | The Verge

So I saw this article and still trying to figure out how to make this work as they have described here. What is the point? How does it work? Why is it different than just being on the desktop vs Metro side and opening Chrome directly?

I'd like to try and give it a shot but unfortunately, cannot get it to work like the screenshots they have listed here.

Thoughts?

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

In Metro you will have the Chrome OS.
In Desktop you will have the usual browser.

 

[spasell]

In Metro you will have the Chrome OS.
In Desktop you will have the usual browser.

Forgive my ignorance as Metro is all new to me (coming over from Mac). When I am in the Metro UI on my SP3, and I click on Chrome Browser, it just brings up the Chrome Browser with the Windows desktop in the background. It never stays in the Metro UI.

So I guess I'm wondering how to access the actual Chrome OS in Metro vs the browser in Desktop? There's no app that I can find for it.

 

[Maaz Mansori]

In Metro you will have the Chrome OS.
In Desktop you will have the usual browser.

Yes, or at least it simulates a Chrome OS experience when in Metro mode. However, to do this, you are required to change your default browser to Chrome so you lose access to the Metro version of IE.
There isn't really a major advantage. Chrome isn't optimized for touch. It's more along the lines of Google forcing you to use their apps and taking advantage of the fact that Windows 8 Metro only allows the default browser.
Personally I would keep IE as the default and just use Chrome in desktop mode.

 

[Maaz Mansori]

Forgive my ignorance as Metro is all new to me (coming over from Mac). When I am in the Metro UI on my SP3, and I click on Chrome Browser, it just brings up the Chrome Browser with the Windows desktop in the background. It never stays in the Metro UI.

So I guess I'm wondering how to access the actual Chrome OS in Metro vs the browser in Desktop? There's no app that I can find for it.

Chrome needs to be the default browser for it to work and when in desktop mode, you can click on the options button and select "Relaunch Chrome in Windows 8 Mode" but before deciding to use it like this, see my above post for a major disadvantage.

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

Forgive my ignorance as Metro is all new to me (coming over from Mac). When I am in the Metro UI on my SP3, and I click on Chrome Browser, it just brings up the Chrome Browser with the Windows desktop in the background. It never stays in the Metro UI.

So I guess I'm wondering how to access the actual Chrome OS in Metro vs the browser in Desktop? There's no app that I can find for it.

Open Chrome -> Menu-> Open in Windows 8 Mode -> Every time you launch Google Chrome from the start it will work in Metro environment.

If you want to switch back to desktop mode - Chrome -> Menu - > Open in Desktop Mode.

 

[Marcellus1]

I've got this set up on my SP3, but at first it was giving me some issues with not displaying properly. It looked like this:

(If that happens to you, the menu button to switch back to desktop mode is just to the right of where the black starts)

There are a couple of options you can use to get it working right. One is to disable high DPI scaling for chrome by taking the following steps:

1. Exit Google Chrome.
2. Right click on the Google Chrome icon and select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab.
4. Select the checkbox that says Disable display scaling for high DPI settings.
5. Click OK.
6. Start Chrome.

However, that means that chrome won't be displayed with a high DPI, which is unfortunate. The other option is better because it makes Chrome display nicely on high DPI screens like the SP3 has, and it is the option I went with.

1. Launch the Windows Registry Editor by heading to the Start Screen and searching for regedit. Alternatively, in Windows 8.1, you can right-click on the Desktop Start Button, choose Run, and then type regedit to find the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following registry location:
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\​
3. You may already have a key called Profile but, if you don’t, you can create it. Right click on “Chrome” and select New > Key and name the new key Profile.
4. Click on the new Profile key to select it, and then right-click in the right pane of the Registry Editor. Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it the following:
   
   high-dpi-support​
5. Double-click the new DWORD and enter 1 in the Value Data box. Press OK to save the change.
6. Finally, close the Registry Editor and quit Chrome.

When you relaunch Chrome, you’ll immediately notice that the browser’s interface, buttons, and menus are all noticeably sharper, taking advantage of High DPI scaling to look great on high resolution displays. Also, you'll notice that in Windows 8 Mode, that the Chrome desktop appears and functions just as it should.

 

[Marcellus1]

As a follow-up post for why to use Chrome versus IE, I had actually planned on sticking with IE and still regularly use it, but there are some things about Chrome that I really like and use a lot, with particular examples such as synced tabs/history/bookmarks across all my devices and chrome remote desktop that I can use to/from any of my other PCs or mobile devices.

 

[spasell]

I've got this set up on my SP3, but at first it was giving me some issues with not displaying properly. It looked like this:
View attachment 72136
(If that happens to you, the menu button to switch back to desktop mode is just to the right of where the black starts)

There are a couple of options you can use to get it working right. One is to disable high DPI scaling for chrome by taking the following steps:

1. Exit Google Chrome.
2. Right click on the Google Chrome icon and select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab.
4. Select the checkbox that says Disable display scaling for high DPI settings.
5. Click OK.
6. Start Chrome.

However, that means that chrome won't be displayed with a high DPI, which is unfortunate. The other option is better because it makes Chrome display nicely on high DPI screens like the SP3 has, and it is the option I went with.

1. Launch the Windows Registry Editor by heading to the Start Screen and searching for regedit. Alternatively, in Windows 8.1, you can right-click on the Desktop Start Button, choose Run, and then type regedit to find the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following registry location:
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\​
3. You may already have a key called Profile but, if you don?t, you can create it. Right click on ?Chrome? and select New > Key and name the new key Profile.
4. Click on the new Profile key to select it, and then right-click in the right pane of the Registry Editor. Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it the following:
   
   high-dpi-support​
5. Double-click the new DWORD and enter 1 in the Value Data box. Press OK to save the change.
6. Finally, close the Registry Editor and quit Chrome.

When you relaunch Chrome, you?ll immediately notice that the browser?s interface, buttons, and menus are all noticeably sharper, taking advantage of High DPI scaling to look great on high resolution displays. Also, you'll notice that in Windows 8 Mode, that the Chrome desktop appears and functions just as it should.

I guess I still don't get the difference between opening chrome when you are in the desktop mode and Chrome in Metro. As a matter of fact when I am on the Metro screen and click on Chrome it launches it but ends up in Desktop. The browser looks the same no matter what whereas IE is different in Metro than in desktop.

What if anything am I missing here. Is there really any difference?

 

[RajeevT]

I guess I still don't get the difference between opening chrome when you are in the desktop mode and Chrome in Metro. As a matter of fact when I am on the Metro screen and click on Chrome it launches it but ends up in Desktop. The browser looks the same no matter what whereas IE is different in Metro than in desktop.

What if anything am I missing here. Is there really any difference?

Have you set Chrome to be your default browser? You cannot use any browser (even IE) in Metro mode unless it is the default system browser, for reasons best known to Microsoft.

 

[Cleavitt76]

As a follow-up post for why to use Chrome versus IE, I had actually planned on sticking with IE and still regularly use it, but there are some things about Chrome that I really like and use a lot, with particular examples such as synced tabs/history/bookmarks across all my devices and chrome remote desktop that I can use to/from any of my other PCs or mobile devices.

FYI, IE syncs all those things if you are logged in to Windows with your Microsoft account and you have syncing enabled.

 

[Marcellus1]

I guess I still don't get the difference between opening chrome when you are in the desktop mode and Chrome in Metro. As a matter of fact when I am on the Metro screen and click on Chrome it launches it but ends up in Desktop. The browser looks the same no matter what whereas IE is different in Metro than in desktop.

What if anything am I missing here. Is there really any difference?

The browser itself is essentially the same. Some of the differences are that because it is metro mode, you don't have the regular desktop view in addition to the chrome desktop view. In fact, you could live entirely in Google land in the Chrome desktop without ever really visiting Win 8 in metro mode if you so desired. You can pin and run various Google apps from the Chrome store to the taskbar--I'm not sure if you can really do that from elsewhere in Win 8? Using it in metro mode lets you switch between Chrome and other apps (or the desktop) by swiping, or dock the metro mode Chrome next to the desktop or any other app, where you can't really do that with desktop mode. I don't really know too well--I haven't used it much yet, and honestly my motivation is more for the novelty of experiencing a chromebook-like experience.

 

[Marcellus1]

FYI, IE syncs all those things if you are logged in to Windows with your Microsoft account and you have syncing enabled.

Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure what all you could sync so that's good to know. However, right now I do prefer to use Chrome on my other PCs, so it works well for me to have Chrome on my SP3 for some cases. Also, the syncing unfortunately doesn't help with my Android mobile devices. (unless I'm missing something?)

 

[Grimlock]

The registry fix above seems to have been broken in chrome 36- does anyone know how to enable high dpi? I really don't like IE, but I especially don't like blurry text.

 

[Marcellus1]

The registry fix above seems to have been broken in chrome 36- does anyone know how to enable high dpi? I really don't like IE, but I especially don't like blurry text.

I don't know if this is the best solution or if it even addresses the issue, but have you tried the chrome beta? (chrome 37)

 

[Grimlock]

I don't know if this is the best solution or if it even addresses the issue, but have you tried the chrome beta? (chrome 37)

Actually I downloaded canary, but chrome 37 beta should be a lot more stable. Looks beautiful again!

 

[MBytes]

I hope you guys know that Chrome devours your battery life and increase system heat and noise?
Google's Chrome Web Browser Is Killing Your Laptop Battery - Forbes
An issue I have been pointing out for many years, but ignored until some people started to actually compare web browser and notice, and started to do a review of their own, before the above news broke out. And Google for years have been ignoring the "problem". As it was done by design, to get that slight edge in performance compared to other web browser.

Chrome, the moment you open it, weather you do something or not, or minimize it, prevent the CPU from going idle state to consume less power, reducing system battery life, and increase fan noise, due to the system being warmer.

 

[Marcellus1]

I hope you guys know that Chrome devours your battery life and increase system heat and noise?
Google's Chrome Web Browser Is Killing Your Laptop Battery - Forbes
An issue I have been pointing out for many years, but ignored until some people started to actually compare web browser and notice, and started to do a review of their own, before the above news broke out. And Google for years have been ignoring the "problem". As it was done by design, to get that slight edge in performance compared to other web browser.

Chrome, the moment you open it, weather you do something or not, or minimize it, prevent the CPU from going idle state to consume less power, reducing system battery life, and increase fan noise, due to the system being warmer.

True. However, it was announced just today that Google has given this issue a high priority and we should be able to expect a fix in the near future.

 

[MBytes]

True. However, it was announced just today that Google has given this issue a high priority and we should be able to expect a fix in the near future.

So then, it Chrome performance will drop, and be similar as other web browser... so why Chrome? A web browser that collects your info and associates everything you surfed ever with the web browser with your Google account(s)., and worst associate your real name with all this, especially if you use Gmail, and out your real name somewhere?

Just saying, if you didn't read the license agreement...

 

[mitsuyager9]

Why the hell would you want to infect such a nice machine with that crap?