Google does not stand out especially for being the developer that most innovates in Chrome, quite the opposite. Edge, Firefox, Opera… all the rivals of Google’s browser are constantly adding new features (vertical tabs, double view, etc) and all kinds of changes in the browser’s interface while Chrome, with each new version, does not bring much more than some minor fixes. This means that, over the years, some elements, such as the interface, seem obsolete to us. Luckily, very soon we will see a big change in this.
Within Chrome’s development plans for 2023, the company plans a change in the design of the web browser, a change that will arrive from now until the end of this year (if everything goes as planned), and it will be implemented in various stages. Although we do not expect to see a totally revolutionary change in the browser, some of the most striking points that we will see after activating the options of the new interface are:
- New icons in the menu of the three points.
- Different height of the address bar.
- Smaller font size in the address bar.
- Rounded corners everywhere, especially on menus.
- The title bar has a different background color.
- New icons in the address bar.
- The lock icon has been replaced with a more generic one.
This new design is still in the first phase of the implementation, so Google still holds many secrets of what will be the new modern and updated design of Chrome. But, if we want to start testing these new touches of the new interface, we can easily do it simply by following the steps that we leave below.
How to activate the new experimental interface in Chrome
The first thing we recommend is install chrome canary, the development version of the browser, which is two versions ahead of the stable version. Thanks to it we will be able to have the latest browser news and, of course, the latest changes in terms of interface. Note that some of the first brushstrokes of the new design are also in the stable version of Chrome, so using the canary version is a recommended but optional step.
Once ready, what we have to do is open the browser, and write the following, in the address bar, to activate the first wave of changes in the browser design:
- chrome://flags/#chrome-refresh-2023
If we have installed the Canary version, in addition to the previous flag, we will also find three other very interesting options that we can enable right now by typing these commands in the address bar:
- chrome://flags/#omnibox-cr23-expanded-state-height
- chrome://flags/#omnibox-cr23-expanded-state-shape
- chrome://flags/#omnibox-cr23-steady-state-icons
After activating these three changes, we simply have to restart the browser for them to take effect. And, when it starts up again, we will be able to see the first news of the new design that will come to Chrome this year.
If we get tired of the new design and want to go back to the original, we simply have to deactivate the flags that we have activated, restart the browser and everything will return to its original value.
