Chrome 69, the latest upcoming iteration of Google's browser on the stable channel, will finally roll out a major design refresh that has been in testing for several months now.
The most prominent change one can see is with the tab bar - all tabs have been rounded off and are slightly taller than before. Most drop-downs now have distinctly rounded corners and drop shadows. The other major change - outside the stark whites, switched over from the more muted gray colors from earlier versions - would be the omnibar, which is now pill-shaped, rather than rectangular.
This is in-line with how the browser will appear on Android too, with a similar approach to interface element shaping and color scheme. Also under testing on Android is a new tab switcher for Chrome akin to the new recents pane found in Android Pie, though it's unclear whether this is part of this particular design refresh rollout.
There are a host of other minor changes, such as the shifting of the user-avatar from the far-right of the tab bar to the right of omnibar, next to the drop-down menu, and direct integration of Chrome notifications with the Windows 10 Action Center. The refresh is technically available for users already, there's just a minute or two of fiddling necessary; you just need to make sure you're on the latest version of Chrome.
For Android users:
- Go to chrome://flags/#enable-chrome-modern-design
- Simply switch over the highlighted Chrome Modern Design drop down option from "Default" to "Enabled"
- Relaunch Chrome when prompted.
For Windows, Mac, and Linux users:
- Navigate to chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md
- Change the highlighted UI Layout for the browser's top chrome dropdown option from "Default" to "Refresh".
- Relaunch Chrome when prompted.
That's it, really, though if you can't be bothered to, the change should automatically make its way to your browser in the coming month or two, as the refresh will be rolled out to everyone starting in September, though no exact release schedule has been outlined yet.
You can download Google Chrome for your desktop and laptop from here, whereas Android users can download it from here.
Source: 9to5Google
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