This is a post with some tips and tricks on how to use the Chrome web browser to your advantage.
Create the new profile is about making a separate profile in Chrome, so that you can create a DDB bookmarks bar for easy access to all the compendiums, character sheets and what not.
Adding search engines for DDB is about adding custom search engines in Chrome, so you can search DDB directly from the address bar.
Making use of Chromes app mode describes how you can make app shortcuts to certain pages, meaning you will get a shortcut in your OS which opens the page in a minimal Chrome window (doing away with the address bar for instance).
Adding Google Translate extension is a tip for those who aren't perhaps super fluent in English and want to translate certain words on the fly.
Adding an extension to remove some "clutter"... (Not recommended at this time) is a more advanced step, to introduce a "Reading Mode" and a mini ToC as well as buttons for navigating between chapters. This step requires you install a third party Chrome extension and paste in some JavaScript and CSS in this extension's setting. While the other steps are perfectly safe and won't interfere with the web page, this step does and it can introduce bugs. If you at any time encounter something "fishy", disable the extension and try again.
Create the new profile
It would be nice to organize the menus a bit! I do this by using the bookmark bar in Chrome. But for that I need a clean bookmark bar as well. So I start out by making a new browser profile: DDB only and no school/work stuff. (Chromebooks doesn't support browser profiles, instead you would have to make a new Google account and sign in with that.)
A lot of people probably use a Google account with their Chrome browser to get bookmark syncing etc. Some might have different profiles for home, school or work. In that case, you're familiar with the notion of profiles.
Find the Manage people setting in Chrome, and add another person.
You can name the profile whatever name you want, and choose whichever avatar you like.
Mark the checkbox for creating a desktop shortcut. This will make two shortcuts on your desktop: one for your regular profile, and one for the D&D Beyond profile.
A new windows with the new profile activated will open. Skip the part on turning on sync, unless you're using this profile with a new Google account.
That's it! Important to know is that Chrome will open with the last active profile if you use your regular Chrome shortcut.
With this new profile: * I import all DDB bookmarks (get this file if you wan't to import bookmarks, it's an HTML file with exported bookmarks to all the compendiums, sorted by release order). * I change the startup page to be www.dndbeyond.com * I change the browser theme to Googles "Just Black" to match the DDB site (go into Chrome settings and change theme under Appearance). * I add search engines for DDB so that I can do stuff like type "monster beholder" in the address bar to find the Beholder instantly.
Adding search engines for DDB
Chrome has a nifty little feature where you can search directly from the address bar. Out of the box this is set to Googles search engine. Let's change that to searching everything on D&D Beyond:
Open Settings in Chrome
Go to the section Search Engine and select Manage search engines
Personally I like to remove all search engines already in there (maybe with the exception of Google).
Select Add and enter a name ("D&D Beyond" perhaps), choose a keyword (for instance "ddb") and paste in this in the URL field:
(you exchange the search phrase with %s in the search URL).
Select the newly added search engine and press Make default
When you make the D&D Beyond search engine the default, you don't have to enter the keyword. If you for instance type "beholder" into the address bar, it will default to searching all of D&D Beyond instead of searching Google. If you still want Google to be the default, skip the last step.
So this search engine thing is pretty sweet. You can just hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab and then enter your search phrase! Let's look at a some other examples (you'd have to add each as a search engine like above):
This is where things really gets exiting! Chrome has a feature where you can launch the browser without bookmarks bar, address bar and menus and buttons. It basically displays a web page in just a window, and it makes a desktop shortcut launching that web page. I personally don't launch DDB home page in this way, but I use it for the PHB, DMG etc. The great thing with this is that you can use your operating systems windowing function, and have your windows side by side without displaying the bookmarks bar and all the other clutter in every window.
Here's how you do it:
Navigate to the page you want to make into an "app"
Select Chrome menu -> More Tools -> Create Shortcut...
Make sure you select Open as Windows (this adds --app="url" to the desktop shortcut)
Try the newly created desktop shortcut!
You can use this with other sites as well, maybe KFC or Improved Initiative? Example below, adventure on the left and initiative tracker on the right, both in Chromes app mode.
Adding Google Translate extension (if English is your second language)
English is my second language, so when translating an adventure or rule on the fly, sometimes I can't find the right word in Swedish. That's why I like having the Google Translate extension installed in my DDB profile. If I highlight the word, the translation is instantly showed like below:
Adding an extension to remove some "clutter" on the DDB site (Not recommended)
So what's next? Make your own "e-reader" for the compendiums! This requires that an extension is installed in Chrome, which makes use of some CSS and JavaScript to hide the DDB menus and footer when browsing a compendium. Below is a Before and After picture:
It's even more impressive when browsing the Table of Contents. Try it!
While still on dndbeyond.com, left-click the extension and select + Add new.
The base URL is shown top left. Edit this to say www.dndbeyond.com/sources/(which means that DDB menus, footer etc will only be hidden when browsing compendiums). If you also want "Reading mode" to available on Character sheets, edit it to say www.dndbeyond.com/sources, www.dndbeyond.com/profile/*/characters (remember the comma)
Copy the JavaScript from sources.js and paste it in on the left
Copy the CSS code from sources.css and paste it in on the right.
Press Save in the top right.
Navigate to a Compendium! Press H to get a help with keyboard shortcuts for toggling different elements.
When this extension is active, you can make an app shortcut to sources (as described earlier) and they will open like an e-book! This step also introduces a "mini ToC" and navigation buttons to the bottom of the compendiums. See this post and the post after for screenshots.
Original post description
On yesterday's Dev Update Twitch stream I asked if there where any plans on making a (web) app of DDB, using for instance Electron. Apparently, this has been asked numerous times before (sorry about that ;)) and Adams response was that this is not something they plan for, or really something that they see a big need for.
While I think that making a web app might not require a huge amount of developer resources compared to native apps, I completely understand the decision to not go this route. In this day and age, more and more people are using mobile devices (phones and tablets). And I appreciate the focus on the features that are upcoming, every single one is pretty amazing. I wouldn't trade any of them for a DDB app on computers.
But nevertheless I feel that the browser is in my way, sometimes. And web pages will be web pages. The DDB home page is very well built, but below are some tips and tricks for those of you using a PC, Mac or Chromebook to maybe make the experience even better. (All tips below are assuming you use the Google Chrome browser and Windows.)
The Mega Menu update fixes a lot of my gripes about the menus. I do miss the option of hiding the content I don't own. So I still believe the bookmark bar approach has some merit. Original text: While the menus on DDB are great, I want the option to arrange my stuff as I see fit. I'm not using any homebrew for instance, so those menu items are kind of in my way. There are some compendiums I'm not interested in, and there are some I have yet to buy, so I want to remove those for the time being. I'm not visiting the marketplace every day etc.
Changelog
Update 5/22: I've pushed an update which improves the mini ToC at the bottom of the page. It's now working on adventures as well as rule books. It opens upwards instead of downwards (which was a problem if the footer was hidden, or the ToC was very long).
I've also added the ability to toggle the sidebar menu. And I've added the R shortcut to toggle to/from reading mode.
Update 4/7: I've added a mini ToC for source books. I've also included another project of mine in the custom search engine section, where you can search for specific page in the core rules, and be redirected to the corresponding DDB section.
Update 3/9: Changed the JS for Sources. You can now toggle elements as you choose (only works on sources). Update the JavaScript in the extension and press H after a page load on a source, and you'll see which shortcuts works.
Update 3/4: I have made three versions of the CSS and JS files: One for source/compendiums, one for character sheets and one for campaign page. The instructions below only show how to adapt the sources/compendiums. All files available here. I also retired the ability to show the Table of Content in compendiums, since it looked kinda awful. I've now made the JS file for compendiums show and hide the breadcrumbs, so you can navigate back to all sources (toggle breadcrumbs with b button on keyboard).
Update 2/26: "Bugfixes" after the Mega Menu update, changed the CSS to remove the Mega Menus in "e-reader mode". Added comments on my thought about the new navigation on Bookmark section.
To do (if I can find the time)
I will try and rework the handling of the background image on both Character Sheets and Sources, to make it more dynamic. As it stands now, it is moved up regardless of which items are hidden.
I will probably rename the sources.js and sources.css since they actually work on other pages as well
I'll rework the Help pop-up and probably make a small web page
It would be nice to make this into a Chrome extensions instead
I had never thought about creating a new google (chrome) profile just for DDB and that solution is practically genius! I'm going to have to set one of those up. I'm hosting a session tomorrow so I don't think I have time before then, but will definitely need to give this a shot before the session after that.
Glad you like it :-) I'll post some more screenshots soon. I really like the app mode, since it allows you to be more flexible in using the windowing system besides just tabs in a browser.
Since DDB is so wonderfully coded it works great when resizing the windows to be side-by-side as well.
Main post updated with Google Translate extension, and updated screenshots :-) Screenshots taken on Ubuntu Linux, but will look pretty much the same on Windows (and presumably Max OS X), aside from the window frames.
I might be doing a screencast of sorts to more clearly showcase the benefits of this approach...
I've updated the CSS file to hide the Mega Menus in Compendiums, if you're using the "e-reader mode". The bookmarks file needs to be updated with the new URLs, but it works since the DDB forward you to the right place. I just made a note of the fact in the original post, and will update eventually.
I've added an update to the original post. I have now made three versions for the CSS and JS files: Sources/compendiums, Character sheets, Campaign page (see link in top post). Example of the Character sheet below:
I've got a 1920x1200 screen resolution, so there's quite a lot of room left. You should be able to view the character sheet in it's entirety on 1920x1080 too. Below is the same character sheet displayed in Chromes regular mode and without the extension (it just barely displays the CS, on 1920x1080 there would be some scrolling):
Since the site uses CSS Media rules, the elements are sometimes out of place when you resize your window. Just reload the page and the elements should jump into place. I had to add a 2 second delay for this, not sure why. I'm not a web developer and "reverse engineering" is always hard.
For the Sources I have changed the JavaScript quite a bit: You can now show and hide elements as you choose! Press S to toggle the site bar, M toggles menus, B toggles breadcrumbs and F toogles the footer (H will display a little help window for these shortcuts).
Toggling elements will not change the background position, it will be moved to the top and stay there via the CSS code. (As of now, I'm unlikely to change the code for this, since my default preference is having the elements not visible.) The state of an element will be remembered when navigating to another source. So if you have turned on the menu and breadcrumbs and navigate from PHB to DMG, you will have breadcrumbs and menus there as well.
There will be some "jumping around" during page load. The CSS injection is rather instant, but the JS is injected after page load. That's another reason for having the default in the CSS code be to hide an element.
I use a Chromebook while DMing , and using your instructions I made another user profile strictly for D&D. The one bad thing is since that profile is not the "device owner" (still me!), I can't set the default browser to DDB .
I don't have an official Chromebook myself, rather I'm running CloudReady which is based on Chrome OS. I can't be entirely sure it's the same.
Chrome OS doesn't support profiles as detailed in my instructions here. Rather you have to make another user account. Making another account is basically creating another Google account with GMail and all. Personally I don't mind this, since having a Google account for DDB has it perks. Besides being able to make use of these instructions on my "Chromebook", I can also sync bookmarks, passwords etc.
Anyway, I have changed my startup page to DDB on my "Chromebook", and that's not on the owner account. You should find the setting by
opening Chrome
open Settings
scroll down to the section named On startup
Choose Open a specific page or set of pages
Add DDB to the list by clicking Add a new page
Let my know how it goes :-) I'll make a screenshot of the settings if you can't find it.
I don't have an official Chromebook myself, rather I'm running CloudReady which is based on Chrome OS. I can't be entirely sure it's the same.
Chrome OS doesn't support profiles as detailed in my instructions here. Rather you have to make another user account. Making another account is basically creating another Google account with GMail and all. Personally I don't mind this, since having a Google account for DDB has it perks. Besides being able to make use of these instructions on my "Chromebook", I can also sync bookmarks, passwords etc.
Anyway, I have changed my startup page to DDB on my "Chromebook", and that's not on the owner account. You should find the setting by
opening Chrome
open Settings
scroll down to the section named On startup
Choose Open a specific page or set of pages
Add DDB to the list by clicking Add a new page
Let my know how it goes :-) I'll make a screenshot of the settings if you can't find it.
I might have been unclear. I can't change the default search engine in the address bar. I managed to change the startup page.
My own research seems to indicate that i can't do that unless the new DDB account is the device owner.
Also, how do I use the html code to open those bookmarked sources? You pointed to the file, but I couldn't figure it out.
It says at the bottom that if your Chromebook is used in school or at work, the search engines may have been set for you. It then links to this page about managed Chromebooks: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1331549
But in any case, you could just skip the part about making it the default search engine and give it a short keyword like ddb: so you would open a new tab and then type ddb beholder to search all of DDB for Beholder. I might actually do this myself! I'm too used to have Google as the default so I end up searching DDB for all kinds of stuff :-D
The HTML file is meant to be imported into your brand new Chrome profile (or in your case, your brand new account). It's just for convenience. You can add the bookmarks you want by yourself, but otherwise you open up the Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O, or three-dot-menu -> Bookmarks -> Bookmarks manager), press the three-dot-menu on the Bookmark Manager and select Import bookmarks and then pick the HTML file. It might create an Imported folder if you already have bookmarks, in that case you can drag and drop the bookmarks as you want.
I've cleaned up the JavaScript a bit, and added a (rather ugly) dark mode that can be toggled with the D key. I also modified the CSS to hide the body element as default, and then display the body after 500 ms, to maybe improve the rather jarring impression of things jumping around.
I took my Core Rules Page Reference for PHB a redirecting HTML page. The use case is that I can now add this redirecting page as a search engine and type "phb page#" in Chrome to be directed to the corresponding section on DDB.
I have now updated the main post with the DDB Redirecter, and I've also indexed the DMG so the complete Core Rules are now searchable. If you go to https://ddbredirecter.com/redirecter/ you'll be able to input the book and page number on the actual page too, so you can use the site without needing to append the URL.
Edit: Oh right, I've also made a mini ToC on the sources. Updated source files are in the link in the main post. The mini ToC is displayed at the bottom middle of the page. You have to navigate to the source books ToC before it will populate.
This is a post with some tips and tricks on how to use the Chrome web browser to your advantage.
Create the new profile
It would be nice to organize the menus a bit! I do this by using the bookmark bar in Chrome. But for that I need a clean bookmark bar as well. So I start out by making a new browser profile: DDB only and no school/work stuff. (Chromebooks doesn't support browser profiles, instead you would have to make a new Google account and sign in with that.)
A lot of people probably use a Google account with their Chrome browser to get bookmark syncing etc. Some might have different profiles for home, school or work. In that case, you're familiar with the notion of profiles.
That's it! Important to know is that Chrome will open with the last active profile if you use your regular Chrome shortcut.
With this new profile:
* I import all DDB bookmarks (get this file if you wan't to import bookmarks, it's an HTML file with exported bookmarks to all the compendiums, sorted by release order).
* I change the startup page to be www.dndbeyond.com
* I change the browser theme to Googles "Just Black" to match the DDB site (go into Chrome settings and change theme under Appearance).
* I add search engines for DDB so that I can do stuff like type "monster beholder" in the address bar to find the Beholder instantly.
Adding search engines for DDB
Chrome has a nifty little feature where you can search directly from the address bar. Out of the box this is set to Googles search engine. Let's change that to searching everything on D&D Beyond:
When you make the D&D Beyond search engine the default, you don't have to enter the keyword. If you for instance type "beholder" into the address bar, it will default to searching all of D&D Beyond instead of searching Google. If you still want Google to be the default, skip the last step.
So this search engine thing is pretty sweet. You can just hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab and then enter your search phrase! Let's look at a some other examples (you'd have to add each as a search engine like above):
Search engine in action:
Making use of Chromes app mode
This is where things really gets exiting! Chrome has a feature where you can launch the browser without bookmarks bar, address bar and menus and buttons. It basically displays a web page in just a window, and it makes a desktop shortcut launching that web page. I personally don't launch DDB home page in this way, but I use it for the PHB, DMG etc. The great thing with this is that you can use your operating systems windowing function, and have your windows side by side without displaying the bookmarks bar and all the other clutter in every window.
Here's how you do it:
You can use this with other sites as well, maybe KFC or Improved Initiative? Example below, adventure on the left and initiative tracker on the right, both in Chromes app mode.
Adding Google Translate extension (if English is your second language)
English is my second language, so when translating an adventure or rule on the fly, sometimes I can't find the right word in Swedish. That's why I like having the Google Translate extension installed in my DDB profile. If I highlight the word, the translation is instantly showed like below:
Adding an extension to remove some "clutter" on the DDB site (Not recommended)
So what's next? Make your own "e-reader" for the compendiums! This requires that an extension is installed in Chrome, which makes use of some CSS and JavaScript to hide the DDB menus and footer when browsing a compendium. Below is a Before and After picture:
It's even more impressive when browsing the Table of Contents. Try it!
When this extension is active, you can make an app shortcut to sources (as described earlier) and they will open like an e-book! This step also introduces a "mini ToC" and navigation buttons to the bottom of the compendiums. See this post and the post after for screenshots.
Original post description
On yesterday's Dev Update Twitch stream I asked if there where any plans on making a (web) app of DDB, using for instance Electron. Apparently, this has been asked numerous times before (sorry about that ;)) and Adams response was that this is not something they plan for, or really something that they see a big need for.
While I think that making a web app might not require a huge amount of developer resources compared to native apps, I completely understand the decision to not go this route. In this day and age, more and more people are using mobile devices (phones and tablets). And I appreciate the focus on the features that are upcoming, every single one is pretty amazing. I wouldn't trade any of them for a DDB app on computers.
But nevertheless I feel that the browser is in my way, sometimes. And web pages will be web pages. The DDB home page is very well built, but below are some tips and tricks for those of you using a PC, Mac or Chromebook to maybe make the experience even better. (All tips below are assuming you use the Google Chrome browser and Windows.)
The Mega Menu update fixes a lot of my gripes about the menus. I do miss the option of hiding the content I don't own. So I still believe the bookmark bar approach has some merit. Original text: While the menus on DDB are great, I want the option to arrange my stuff as I see fit. I'm not using any homebrew for instance, so those menu items are kind of in my way. There are some compendiums I'm not interested in, and there are some I have yet to buy, so I want to remove those for the time being. I'm not visiting the marketplace every day etc.
Changelog
Update 5/22: I've pushed an update which improves the mini ToC at the bottom of the page. It's now working on adventures as well as rule books. It opens upwards instead of downwards (which was a problem if the footer was hidden, or the ToC was very long).
I've also added the ability to toggle the sidebar menu. And I've added the R shortcut to toggle to/from reading mode.
Update 4/7: I've added a mini ToC for source books. I've also included another project of mine in the custom search engine section, where you can search for specific page in the core rules, and be redirected to the corresponding DDB section.
Update 3/9: Changed the JS for Sources. You can now toggle elements as you choose (only works on sources). Update the JavaScript in the extension and press H after a page load on a source, and you'll see which shortcuts works.
Update 3/4: I have made three versions of the CSS and JS files: One for source/compendiums, one for character sheets and one for campaign page. The instructions below only show how to adapt the sources/compendiums. All files available here.
I also retired the ability to show the Table of Content in compendiums, since it looked kinda awful. I've now made the JS file for compendiums show and hide the breadcrumbs, so you can navigate back to all sources (toggle breadcrumbs with b button on keyboard).
Update 2/26: "Bugfixes" after the Mega Menu update, changed the CSS to remove the Mega Menus in "e-reader mode". Added comments on my thought about the new navigation on Bookmark section.
To do (if I can find the time)
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I had never thought about creating a new google (chrome) profile just for DDB and that solution is practically genius! I'm going to have to set one of those up. I'm hosting a session tomorrow so I don't think I have time before then, but will definitely need to give this a shot before the session after that.
Thanks!!
What a great idea! Will try this out and see how much faster I can pull up things during a session.
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
Glad you like it :-) I'll post some more screenshots soon. I really like the app mode, since it allows you to be more flexible in using the windowing system besides just tabs in a browser.
Since DDB is so wonderfully coded it works great when resizing the windows to be side-by-side as well.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
Main post updated with Google Translate extension, and updated screenshots :-) Screenshots taken on Ubuntu Linux, but will look pretty much the same on Windows (and presumably Max OS X), aside from the window frames.
I might be doing a screencast of sorts to more clearly showcase the benefits of this approach...
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I've updated the CSS file to hide the Mega Menus in Compendiums, if you're using the "e-reader mode". The bookmarks file needs to be updated with the new URLs, but it works since the DDB forward you to the right place. I just made a note of the fact in the original post, and will update eventually.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I've added an update to the original post. I have now made three versions for the CSS and JS files: Sources/compendiums, Character sheets, Campaign page (see link in top post). Example of the Character sheet below:
I've got a 1920x1200 screen resolution, so there's quite a lot of room left. You should be able to view the character sheet in it's entirety on 1920x1080 too. Below is the same character sheet displayed in Chromes regular mode and without the extension (it just barely displays the CS, on 1920x1080 there would be some scrolling):
While starting Chrome in app mode to display the CS, it dawned on me that there's should really be an option to display CS in a pop-out window... That's really what I'm doing in a convoluted way :-) So I made a suggestion about it DDB's Zendesk! https://dndbeyond.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360028569634-Make-an-option-to-open-Character-sheets-compendiums-etc-in-a-pop-out-window
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
Custom Search Engines in action :-)
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I've updated the code once more :-)
Since the site uses CSS Media rules, the elements are sometimes out of place when you resize your window. Just reload the page and the elements should jump into place. I had to add a 2 second delay for this, not sure why. I'm not a web developer and "reverse engineering" is always hard.
For the Sources I have changed the JavaScript quite a bit: You can now show and hide elements as you choose! Press S to toggle the site bar, M toggles menus, B toggles breadcrumbs and F toogles the footer (H will display a little help window for these shortcuts).
Toggling elements will not change the background position, it will be moved to the top and stay there via the CSS code. (As of now, I'm unlikely to change the code for this, since my default preference is having the elements not visible.) The state of an element will be remembered when navigating to another source. So if you have turned on the menu and breadcrumbs and navigate from PHB to DMG, you will have breadcrumbs and menus there as well.
There will be some "jumping around" during page load. The CSS injection is rather instant, but the JS is injected after page load. That's another reason for having the default in the CSS code be to hide an element.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
This is really useful!
I use a Chromebook while DMing , and using your instructions I made another user profile strictly for D&D. The one bad thing is since that profile is not the "device owner" (still me!), I can't set the default browser to DDB .
Any suggestions?
I don't have an official Chromebook myself, rather I'm running CloudReady which is based on Chrome OS. I can't be entirely sure it's the same.
Chrome OS doesn't support profiles as detailed in my instructions here. Rather you have to make another user account. Making another account is basically creating another Google account with GMail and all. Personally I don't mind this, since having a Google account for DDB has it perks. Besides being able to make use of these instructions on my "Chromebook", I can also sync bookmarks, passwords etc.
Anyway, I have changed my startup page to DDB on my "Chromebook", and that's not on the owner account. You should find the setting by
Let my know how it goes :-) I'll make a screenshot of the settings if you can't find it.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I might have been unclear. I can't change the default search engine in the address bar. I managed to change the startup page.
My own research seems to indicate that i can't do that unless the new DDB account is the device owner.
Also, how do I use the html code to open those bookmarked sources? You pointed to the file, but I couldn't figure it out.
Oh, sorry :-) It did work on my installation, but as I said, it's based on CloudReadys Chrome OS. However, I found this official help page on the matter: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95426?visit_id=636878876206055476-1899161486&rd=2
It says at the bottom that if your Chromebook is used in school or at work, the search engines may have been set for you. It then links to this page about managed Chromebooks: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1331549
But in any case, you could just skip the part about making it the default search engine and give it a short keyword like ddb: so you would open a new tab and then type ddb beholder to search all of DDB for Beholder. I might actually do this myself! I'm too used to have Google as the default so I end up searching DDB for all kinds of stuff :-D
The HTML file is meant to be imported into your brand new Chrome profile (or in your case, your brand new account). It's just for convenience. You can add the bookmarks you want by yourself, but otherwise you open up the Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O, or three-dot-menu -> Bookmarks -> Bookmarks manager), press the three-dot-menu on the Bookmark Manager and select Import bookmarks and then pick the HTML file. It might create an Imported folder if you already have bookmarks, in that case you can drag and drop the bookmarks as you want.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I've cleaned up the JavaScript a bit, and added a (rather ugly) dark mode that can be toggled with the D key. I also modified the CSS to hide the body element as default, and then display the body after 500 ms, to maybe improve the rather jarring impression of things jumping around.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
This is awesome. I never cease to be amazed by the ingenuity of the D&D community!
Thank you :-) I'll continue working on it, but I kinda got sidetracked when I started coding on a VTT :-D
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I took my Core Rules Page Reference for PHB a redirecting HTML page. The use case is that I can now add this redirecting page as a search engine and type "phb page#" in Chrome to be directed to the corresponding section on DDB.
The redirecting page is here: https://ddbredirecter.com/redirecter/
I'll probably continue working on the redirecter before adding it to the main post, but let me know what you think.
Currently PHB and MM works
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
I have now updated the main post with the DDB Redirecter, and I've also indexed the DMG so the complete Core Rules are now searchable. If you go to https://ddbredirecter.com/redirecter/ you'll be able to input the book and page number on the actual page too, so you can use the site without needing to append the URL.
Edit: Oh right, I've also made a mini ToC on the sources. Updated source files are in the link in the main post. The mini ToC is displayed at the bottom middle of the page. You have to navigate to the source books ToC before it will populate.
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM
What an amazing idea. Just followed your instructions, and I'm amazed with the result. Great job @fohswe!
Thanks! :-D glad someone find it useful :-)
Page Reference: Core Rules to DDB
Page Reference: DDB to PHB
Page Reference: DDB to DMG
Page Reference: DDB to MM