Category: Chromebooks

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Foundation Fonts now in Workspace

If you don’t teach in Australia, it may surprise you to learn that we have specific fonts that must be used in early years and primary education. These fonts are mandated by each state and are a requirement for schools to use when creating resources for young students. The fonts are used when teaching handwriting to young students.

If you ARE an Australian teacher, particularly for the early years students from grades K to 3, but in primary school generally, you know that having access to these fonts is kind of a big deal. You are expected to use these fonts to make resources for students, such as worksheets and activities, so being able to install them on your computer is important.

For a very long time now, it’s been a bit of an issue that these mandated fonts have not been available in Google Docs. I don’t think I’ve ever run training for teachers where the question about Foundation Fonts in Docs has not been asked. It’s just one of those inevitable questions that comes up every single time, but until now there has not been a good answer. If you’re on a Windows or Mac machine you would need to leave Docs and switch to Word or some other tool to make student resources, and if you were using a Chromebook you were completely stuck since installing things like fonts is not an option for ChromeOS users. If you wanted to use Google Docs and you needed Foundation Font, you were just out of luck.

Until today. I’m very pleased to be able to tell you that the mandated fonts for all Australian states are now available in Google Workspace!

Let me tell you how to get them, and then share a little of the journey of how we got here.

To use these fonts you simply go to the font list, choose More fonts and search for the name of the font you want. These new Foundation/Beginner fonts have all been names with a consistent naming convention – Edu <state> <fontname>. So, for example, if you’re in New South Wales, just search for “NSW” and there it is. South Australians might find it a little trickier, as the letter combination “SA” appears in many other fonts, so you can also search using the term “Edu” and they will all show up. Here’s a video that shows what I mean…

How to get Australian fonts for schools in Google Docs.

Of course, if you do need to download these fonts so you can install them into a non-ChromeOS application like Word, Indesign, Illustrator, etc you can acccess them all in the Google Fonts collection at https://fonts.google.com/?query=edu.

There are a couple of companies that currently sell these fonts to Australian schools. I started conversations with these companies a couple of years ago to see if they would somehow partner with Google to help bring these fonts to the web so that Google Docs users could access them but there was very little appetite to do so. This approach of only selling installable fonts may have been a good approach in the 90s, but it was ignoring the rise of webfonts and the ever growing number of schools that use Google Docs, and particularly on Chromebooks.

Here’s a fun fact about fonts. When most people talk about “fonts” they really mean”typefaces”. If you’re unclear on the difference, a typeface is essentially the design of the text, or the way a piece of text looks, but a font is the implementation of that typeface in software. While a font can be legally protected by copyright, a typeface cannot. So anyone can freely duplicate an existing typeface, but there are intellectual property issues to consider when creating a font of those letters in software. This means that Google’s implementation of Foundation font is available for anyone to use, but only because it was created from scratch and not reusing someone else’s existing font.

Importantly then, these new fonts from Google have been completely reengineered from the ground up. The designers, Tina Anderson and Corey Anderson did a great job of making them for all Australian states, recoded these from scratch to create a new font for an existing typeface. And while you can buy these fonts from other sources, Google has made theirs available free of charge, both in Google Workspace and through Google Fonts.

As someone who has been training teachers in the Google ecosystem for over 10 years, the request for these mandated fonts was something I heard at almost every workshop I ever ran. I’m really glad that I was able to work with Dave and the awesome people in the Google Fonts team, and the designers Tina and Corey, to finally help bring these fonts to Australian teachers in Google Workspace.

And as a Chromebook user, and someone who passionately believes that the web is the future and that Chromebooks are the best option for most schools, I’m glad that we were able to remove this annoying font issue, and give teachers and students yet another reason to choose ChromeOS.

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Five things I really like about ChromeOS

I saw my first Chromebook, the original Cr48, over 10 years ago. I’ve deployed them into my own school with great success. And I now use them as my primary computing device every day. As a Mac user for many years, an occasional dabbler in Linux, and a Windows user for many more before that, I found the simplicity and ease of use of ChromeOS a refreshing and welcome change.

Despite initially seeing a Chromebook as an easy alternative for a bit of web browsing, it took me a while to get to the point where I could see it as a viable option for my primary computer. Despite finding myself regularly using my Chromebook to present at conferences and workshops, I’d bring my MacBook along “just in case”. Eventually, after a lot of travelling around the world carrying two computers, I realised that I almost never used the Mac anymore, and I actually preferred to use the Chromebook. I still remember packing for a trip one day, and looking at my MacBook on the desk and thinking “should I or shouldn’t I take it?” I didn’t. The world didn’t end.

It’s funny how we can become so attached to an operating system, to the point where we convince ourselves that we can’t possibly adjust to a new one. I remember when I switched from Windows to Mac, I agonised over the decision. I overanalyzed it, made lists of all the apps I used to ensure there was an equivalent on the Mac side. Then when I made the switch, I wondered why I waited so long. And it was the same as I started to use a Chromebook more. “What if I need to do X and the Chromebook can’t?” I’d think. It took me a while to get to the point where I could let it go, but once I did, and adopted the Chromebook as my daily driver, I have never really looked back.

Here are 5 things about ChromeOS that I would miss a lot if I had to go back to a conventional operating system.

A keyboard that makes sense

One of the first things you notice about a Chromebook is that there are different keys on the keyboard. The usual row of function keys is replaced with a set of keys that do the kinds of things a modern web user would want – a back button, refresh button, buttons for going full screen and exposing all the current windows, as well as buttons for adjusting brightness and volume. (If you really want the function keys back, you can switch them back in the settings) The Caps Lock key is missing too, but I’ve always thought it was a useless addition to a keyboard. Again, if you really want it you can enable it in the settings, or just press the alt key to get it.

The other nice thing about the keys is that they are shown in lowercase letters. For young users this is great, as they can better recognise the letters, but even for me I find the lowercase letters just provide a sense of calm and simplicity. I saw a Windows keyboard recently and really felt a sense of busyness with the uppercase letters and so many keys also marked with additional functions. The Chromebook keyboard has a real zen feel about it.

I really like the way the keyboard feels on my Chromebooks. Maybe I’m just comparing them to the ridiculously awful keyboard on my MacBook Pro, which is without question the worst typing experience I’ve ever had.

There are a ton of awesome keyboard shortcuts too. Just press the ctrl+alt+/ keys to see a fully searchable list of shortcuts, or check out this list.

The Everything Button

Ok, I know this is still part of the keyboard, but it’s such a big deal it gets its own mention. The “Everything Button” as it’s called (or sometimes just referred to as the Search key) is so incredibly useful, I can’t imagine not having it. Pressing it once brings up a search field, where entering a search term will search your device, your apps, your settings and even the web.

Tapping the Everything Button and typing the first few letters of, say, the word ‘classroom’ will let you immediately open Google Classroom. Just type ‘cla’ and press enter and you’re in the app within seconds.

Typing the word ‘hello” might offer you a link to a video of Adele performing her song of that name, a link to an online website such as hellofresh.com, or a chance to say hello to the Google Assistant.

Starting to type the word ‘lesson’ presents me with the list of documents stored in my Google Drive that contain the word lesson.

And of course if you just want to search the web, just tap the Everything button and type your search query instead of heading over to Google.com.

Once you get used to having search so deeply embedded into the operating system you won’t go back.

Multiple Copy and Paste

Usually when you copy something on your computer it replaces the last thing you copied. Typically most computers can only store the last thing you copied, making it annoying if you are doing a lot of copying and pasting.

On a Chromebook the usual cut and paste system applies – ctrl+c for copy, ctrl-v for paste. But if you use the Everything Key (let’s call it ‘search’ for simplicity) when you paste – so search+v – then you’ll get an option to paste any of the past 5 things you copied! And not just the last 5 pieces of text either. If you copied a picture, or a table, or some formatted text, it lets you paste exactly what you copied.

Somewhat related (although not exclusive to ChromeOS) it’s also worth noting that if you use shift+ctrl+v when you paste, your pasted text assumes the formatting of the location you’re pasting it into. So if you copy a piece of text that is, say, red 16pt Georgia bold, and paste into a block of text that is black 12pt Arial italic, the pasted Georgia text will become the same size, colour and format as the Arial text it’s being pasted into. Handy!

Accessibility options for everyone

ChromeOS has some amazing accessibility options, all built-in right at the operating system level. From ChromeVox, the built-in screen reader for people with vision impairment, to simple and easy to use screen magnifiers, resizable cursors and highlight tools, dictation mode, select to speak, mono audio and more, every Chromebook comes with a ton of built-in customisations to allow every user to tailor the experience to best suit themselves.

It highlights the fact that accessibility doesn’t just mean catering to people with disabilities or special needs (although it certainly does do this). It means providing options to make the Chromebook work in ways that make the most sense, with the most usability, for every user.

It just works.

Honestly the best thing about Chromebooks is that they just work. The operating system gets out of the way because it’s light and simple and obvious. You don’t get constantly interrupted with updates that disrupt your workflow or make you wait for hours before you can use your computer. Updates just happen in the background, and won’t bug you.

I really like the fact that Chromebooks are based on the user not the device, which means that whatever device you log into, all your stuff is there. So if you want to work on multiple Chromebooks, or have your students share a set of Chromebooks, or even if you lose one and have to get another, once you log in again all your stuff is there. Documents, bookmarks, extensions, settings, everything. It is literally like being on the same machine.

Starting your Chromebook takes about 8 seconds to get to the login screen, and then another few seconds once you log in. The slowest part is typing in your password, although if you have your phone paired to your Chromebook you can just unlock your phone (usually with your fingerprint) and then tap the Chromebook login screen and you’re in. And once you’re in, the battery just keeps going and going and going and going.

So there you go, that’s five things. As I read back over what I’ve written, I realise how much of a Chromebook fanboy I sound like, and perhaps I am. But if a regular person asked me to recommend a computer for them, unless they had a really specific reason or use case for needing Windows or Mac, it would take a lot for me to recommend anything but a Chromebook. They really are the right computer for the vast majority of regular people that just want to get online and get stuff done without the computer getting in the way all the time.

I haven’t even touched on the way Chromebooks can be managed centrally through the admin console, so maybe I’ll write another post on that sometime and why these devices make so much sense for schools.

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What’s in your Extension list? Part 1

One of the nice things about Chrome is how easily it can be enhanced with powerful and useful extensions. Extensions give the Chrome browser additional “superpowers” that it doesn’t have by default, giving you the ability to add some really useful extra features to Chrome to suit the way you use your computer.

Here are some of my favourite extensions, in no particular order…

Extensity – The one extension to rule them all, Extensity is an extension manager that gives you the ability to easily enable or disable your extensions. I find myself installing far more extensions than I really need to use at any one time, so I like to turn off any that I don’t need to use right now. It’s as easy as clicking on their name. Extensity also has a “master switch” to turn them all off, which is handy for those few times when you might need to troubleshoot some rogue extension that could be causing trouble.

Text Blaze – A amazingly useful text expander that can take a few keystrokes and expand them out to a full word, phrase, sentence or more. You decide on your shortcut and it magically expands it in full whenever you type it. Great for emails, or any documents where you find yourself typing the same things over and over.

Clipboard History Pro – You know those times when you’re doing a lot of cutting and pasting, and wish you could go back and retrieve the second last, third last (or more) thing that was on your clipboard? With Clipboard History Pro you can. It remembers everything you cut (or copy) and you can easily retrieve it from the list. You can even create a favourites list of things you commonly need to paste.

Screencastify – A really handy and easy to use screen recorder for Chrome. It’s great because it integrates so well with Google Drive, and because it works directly in Chrome it is perfect for Chromebooks. The premium version is affordable and even has a built in video editor tool.

Be Awake – A simple utility that prevents your Chromebook from going to sleep. Just toggle it off or on as needed. Really basic but very useful.

OneTab – It’s too easy to accumulate lots and lots of open tabs in Chrome. OneTab can help reduce tab clutter by gathering all open tabs into a handy list, which can then be saved, shared or restored. I also like to save my open tabs at the end of a busy day so I can revisit anything important later.

The Great Suspender – Another neat tab mangement tool that puts unused tabs to sleep after a predetermined time to help save memory and system resources. As soon as you return to the tab it instantly wakes again. There are lots of these kinds of extensions in the WebStore, but this was one of the first to do this.

Full Page Screen Capture – Most operating systems have built in keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots, and most give you the option of grabbing the full screen or just a specific region. But things get trickier when I want to capture a long page that goes “below the fold” such as a long scrolling webpage.  This extension solves that.

Marinara – If you use the Pomodoro Technique to stay focused on tasks, this Chrome based Pomodoro timer is very nice. It has the standard Pomodoro timings by default, but you can customise it if you want to.  I like the way it keeps a full history of completed units.  If you don’t know about the Pomodoro Technique, check it out.

Mote – Mote lets you add voice recordings to comments in Google Docs. It adds simple one-click recording to add a voice comment.  There are other ways to do this, but Mote is by far the simplest.

Bitly – Google Docs typically have very long URLs so I find myself making them into short URLs quite. I like using bit.ly for that.  This extension makes it really simple to create a bitly address (which can be fully customised) in just a few clicks.

AdBlockPlus – Because ads can be really annoying! However, many websites also rely on ads for revenue so I whitelist a lot of sites where the ads are not too intrusive, but it’s good to be able to block the really annoying ones.  Also blocks ads on Facebook and YouTube too.

Emoji Keyboard – Sometimes you want to add an emoji to your text and this extension makes it really easy. Just search, choose and paste. Super fun and easy! 

QR Code Generator –  A really quick and simple no-frills way to generate a QR code from the current webpage as a PNG file. Just click and save to your Chromebook

Share to Classroom – If you are a Google Classroom user you should definitely have this one installed on all school machines. You can push webpages to all classroom computers in just a couple of clicks, and turn any webpage into an assignment, question or material, simply and immediately.

Speedtest – Because sometimes I just need to know how fast the network is.

That’s just a few of my favourites but there are, literally, thousands to choose from. As you can see, many of the ones I like are focused on improving productivity and efficiency, but take some time to browse or search through the Chrome Webstore and you are sure to find extensions ideally suited to the way you work or to meet your specific needs.

What extensions do you llike? Let me know in the comments!

Do you want me to write a part 2 list?