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ChromePlus Is An IE-Tab And Mouse-Gesture Sporting Chromium Build

Windows only: We’re still waiting for serious extensions to hit the still-young Google Chrome browser, but if you’re dying for more advanced Chrome functionality—like mouse gestures, link dragging, IE tabs, etc.—a tweaked Chrome build called ChromePlus is worth a look.

Most of the extra features in ChromePlus are available in some form or another on other browsers. The IE Tab functionality mimics the IE Tab extension for Firefox, which renders an Internet Explorer window inside Firefox (or in this case, Chrome) to give you access to those IE-only sites without leaving your preferred browser; the mouse gestures feature mimics mouse gestures available in some form or another on, well, virtually any browser (except you can’t add any custom gestures yet); and the Super Drag feature lets you drag a link to open it in a foreground or background tab. (See the options dialog below.)

(Click the image for a closer look.)

It’s not all that much considering all the potential you get from full-on add-ons (which are already beginning to find their way to Chrome), but it’s a decent feature boost if you’ve been wanting any of those particular tools added to Chrome.

ChromePlus is freeware, Windows only. (Note: You may have some trouble with ChromePlus on a 64-bit install of Windows 7—I had trouble getting the app to work correctly on my install, and so did one of the folks at Download Squad.)

ChromePlus [via Life Rocks 2.0]

Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • BishopBlaize

    mmm, interesting. Those are definitly two of the plugins I would miss most. IE only sites are rare out in the wild, as it were - but in each of my last three companies we've had company databases that have failed on anything other than IE, so IE tab was a boon when i found it.

    As for mouse gestures - within 10 minutes of using them in opera all those years ago i knew I could never go back. I find it completely unfathomable that all browsers dont come with them built in - for browsing where youre sat back and reading, i think theyre better than keyboard shortcuts.

    BishopBlaize

  • Spacebar265

    @[update.microsoft.com]

    Spacebar265

  • granbabydigi

    Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but you can already drag links in Chrome and open them in the foreground tab, background tab, or a new tab. So I'm not getting what this Super Drag thing is all about.

  • Rick-e

    "to give you access to those IE-only sites" you mean there are websites out there that can only be opened with IE???

    really?? O_o

    Rick-e

  • nka

    Anyone tried this while using Wine in Ubuntu Linux?

    nka

  • ericesque

    I'm waiting for an IE tab plugin to hit Chrome so I can dump Firefox at work. Already made the switch at home. ChromePlus would work, but I'd much rather use a Google build with a plugin.

    ericesque

  • AngryTypingGuy

    Mouse gestures is my favorite extension on FF, so I'm delighted to hear that Chrome has finally incorporated it. However, I'm going to continue waiting until they offer customization features to personalize my own gestures.

    AngryTypingGuy

  • Bokusatsu_Tenshi

    Are the Chrome Developer new feats enabled on this one too?
    Bookmark synching and multiple tab bookmarking?
    For some reason I can't make them work on Chrome Dev...

    Bokusatsu_Tenshi

  • lori

    im also having problems getting it to work on 64-bit vista

  • KaosX

    lol, Just noticed "Super DREG"

    KaosX

  • KaosX

    Like most chrome/chromium stuff you have to make sure that all versions of both are shut down before these changes will initialize.

    The IE tab functionality works splendidly with the MHT fies/pages that previously chrome was only able to download and then would open in IE anyway.

    I also tested some active X controls that load data over com ports here in the office and they're working GREAT.

    Id prefer native mht support and I know the activex mess cant be avoided but this works great as an "in between" solution.

    KaosX

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