Tom Kay Web Developer

Custom Google Background

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Description

This small Google Chrome extension was developed to introduce custom backgrounds to the Google homepage.  A feature which Google removed in November 2012.

By the middle of January 2012 I had reached over 1800 users with an average rating by users of 4.5 out of 5.

In early March 2013 my extension was featured in Ghacks.net and CNET.  This created a fantastic exposure, pusing the extension to the maxumum trending level (On Fire) in the chrome web store.  At the end of march I had over 40,000 users, while maintaining a high rating of 4.5 out of 5.

On 24 July 2013 I reached the milestone 100,000 users. Along with this the support from users has been great.  Thanks to user contributions we have support for 13 languages. I'm really proud to have such a large number of users and am continuing development of feature requests.  Who knows what the future holds?!

Download

You must download this directly from Chrome Web Store using Google Chrome.

Issues

Generally, users do not have any issue with the extension.  However, on occasion Chrome's local storage can become corrupt which results in problems with saving.  The easiest way to rectify this is to delete the Sync Settings for this extension.  If you are experiperiencing problems, please follow this procedure:

1. Open the following folder on your computer:
   %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Sync Extension Settings
   Copy the line above and paste it into your Explorer or Start Menu. SCREENSHOT
    
2. You may see a number of folders here.  You will need to delete the folder named "jepibmfmhopgkplegmkjgifmhabbjadg".  This will remove only the data for Custom Google Background.  Your other extensions will not be affected.
   You must close all Google Chrome windows to delete this folder.
    
3. Once the folder is deleted, you can restart Google Chrome. The extension options page should open automatically, and the problem with saving should now be resolved.

If you continue you experience problems, please feel free to contact me, or leave a support message.

Translation

I have now enabled localisation in Custom Google Background.  If you would like to help by translating the extension into your native language, please read my article on Translating Custom Google Background.

As translations are submitted, I will place translation credits here.  Thank you for your help!

Language	With thanks to....
Chinese / 中文	lilk
Czech / Čeština	Rmj Mrm
Dutch / Nederlands	kennyboy55
French / Français	Khalil Benazzouz
German / Deutsch	JJurek, Vera Ehrich
Indonesian / Bahasa Indonesia	Imanuel Harkespan
Italian / Italiano	Gioacchino Gargiulo
Korean / 한국어	이준형
Norwegian / Norsk	Thomas Lyse, Glen Fredrik Hurum
Polish / Polski	Ewelina Rak
Portuguese / Português (Brazil)	Raphael Barros
Portuguese / Português (Portugal)	Paulo Simões
Russian / Pусский	Oleg Laptiy (Sonicomsk)
Serbian / Српски	Dragan
Slovenian / Slovenščina	Tomaž Jančič
Spanish / Español	Ymjayo96
Swedish / Svenska	Rasmus Högh
Turkish / Türkçe	Aytaç Çeşmebaşı

News

Change Log

v6.1 (29 January 2014)
- Improve styles of Google+ bar (top right of the New Tab and Google Homepage)
- Support hiding the search bar completely

v6.0.13 (08 January 2014)
- Update German localisation.
- Add Russian localisation.
- Fix some strange styles on the Google menu.

v6.0 (29 September 2013)
- Now works with the updated "New Tab" page (yay!).
- Add Serbian localisation.
- After much deliberation I have decided to make some elements of this extension available via an in-app purchase.  With 140,000 users I find myself working more on keeping up to date and assisting users via email.  Users who already have their options configured will see no change and will not have to upgrade unless they wish to change the premium options further.

v5.1.5 (14 September 2013)
- Add Slovenian localisation.

v5.1.4 (24 August 2013)
- Add Korean localisation.

v5.1.3 (10 August 2013)
- Add Czech localisation.

v5.1.2 (05 August 2013)
- Add Portuguese (Brazil) localisation.

v5.1.1 (22 July 2013)
- Add Portuguese (Portugal) localisation.

v5.1 (20 July 2013)
- Alert the user if an image is too large to upload.  The maximum file size for images is 10MB.
- Add Indonesian and Turkish localisation.

v5.0.9 (19 July 2013)
- Add German and Italian localisation.

v5.0.7 (17 July 2013)
- Fix Traditional Chinese localisation using Google Translate from Simplified Chinese.

v5.0.5 (08 July 2013)
- Add French localisation.

v5.0.3 (04 July 2013)
- Add Polish localisation.

v5.0.2 (30 June 2013)
- Add Chinese localisation.
- Add Spanish and Swedish localisation.

v5.0 (28 June 2013)
- Introduce Localisation.  Currently supported: English, Norwegian.

v4.3.3 (15 May 2013)
- Fix issue with footer floating mid screen

v4.3.2 (13 May 2013)
- Fix issue with background remaining on search page
- Improve speed by optimising access to the options storage
- Fix bug which could potentially slow down google pages
- Add a default image to new installations as an example
- Fix issue with hiding the footer in some clients

v4.2 (17 April 2013)
- Update to improve load speed (thanks Shannon Fontaine for pushing me to look into this again)
- Use dynamic stylesheet to ensure certain elements are correctly styled.

v4.1.9 (15 April 2013)
- Address some instances where the Google logo is too large (Thanks Eric Williams et al.)
- Improve style to fix bug where other extensions may use !important (thanks Michael Kole)
- Nudge logo down slightly if replacing a doodle
- Make transparent logo size consistent across both doodle and non-doodle pages
- Fix bug where reset icon sometimes did not appear
- Fix bug where footer bar would sometimes be too high

v4.1.4 (06 April 2013)
- Various bugfixes.  Thanks to Jacek Wolszczak (g+ text formatting), Raphael Bowles (spelling corrections) and Ryan Brownlie (quota limits) for your reports!

v4.1
- Enable multiple file uploads. (Suggested by Ryan Brownlie)

v4.0
- Overhaul of the options page. Thank you to our fantastic designer Mark Neale!

v3.3
- Add option to hide the Google+ account info (requested by Jack Catalano and Philip Bowlen, thanks!)
- Fix issue with 'back' button (reported by Philip Bowlen, thanks!)

v3.2.3
- Return to Imgur support. Thank you to the Imgur team for whitelisting Custom Google Background!

v3.2.2
- Move image upload feature to Imageshack instead of Imgur.  Imgur were not responding to my request for whitelisting. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience!

v3.2
- Add option to hide the additional language suggestions (as requested by viral shah, thanks!)

v3.1
- Add option to position the background, defaults to center (as requested by PikKirby Jack Chang, thanks!)

v3.0
- Now supports image search using 500px

v2.2.3
- Fix issue with background showing on some non-search pages
- Fix Doodle button position when logo is hidden

v2.2.1
- Show Doodle button now appears in bottom left if Google logo is hidden
- Options screen no longer pops up if you choose 'no background'

v2.2
- Fix position and size of Google logo when replacing Doodles
- Allow users to show the Doodle when available
- Fix button hiding on a number of local Google domains

v2.1
- Improve options interface
- Fix for some Google pages which should not show the customisations

v2.0.3
- Make search box more visible on both light and dark backgrounds
- Fix bug with 'search google with this image' feature
- Fix bug with instant search turned off
- Fix bug where script would sometimes load after the docready event and miss the trigger

v2.0
- New 'Stealth Mode'
- Option to hide the 'Promotion' line
- Update imgur API to v3
- Make background display more reliable across both instant and regular search modes
- Various bug fixes

v1.6.2
- Various bugfixes
- Add link to options page from google home page (hide in options)

v1.6.1
- Fix a bug where hiding the buttons didn't work for some users.

v1.6
- Allow uploading files from your computer (using imgur.com)

v1.5
- Redesign options page, make option saving automatic
- Update icons
- Add Share links for Facebook and Twitter (please share!)

v1.4.1
- Improve options page and usability

v1.3.1
- Fix white space appearing when image is short and footer is hidden

v1.3
- Options page now opens on first install

v1.2
- Update Icon

v1.1
- Update options page with better instructions
- Add option to hide footer bar
- Fix bug with Google Images logo not being replaced
- Fix bug when hiding elements which don't exist

v1.0
- Add options to hide logo and buttons
- Add option to customise background scaling

v0.3
- Allow adding multiple images
- Image preview
- Random image option

v0.2
- Now supports all known Google domains.