Google Chrome Celebrates Its 10th Birthday With A Major Redesign

Google adopted the best way to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its browser, Chrome. The company launched a new design for Chrome with several new features—rounded shapes, new icons, and a fresh color palette. The new design will be available across desktop on PC and Mac. It will be also available on the mobile versions of Chrome on iOS and Android.

What’s New

Bidding good-bye to its trapezoid-shaped tabs, Chrome embraced the new rounded tabs. For those who work with too many open tabs, this design will be useful. On mobile, Google has moved the toolbar to the bottom on iOS, making it easily accessible. With the new redesign, you can now create shortcuts to your favorite websites directly from the new tab page. And customizing the background of a newly-opened tab is possible now.

The change in the Omnibox (search bar) is the most striking. Now, Omnibox will show you answers directly in the address bar without having to open a new tab. The new feature doesn’t end there. When you search for a website, Chrome will tell you if it’s already open. And you can jump straight to it with “Switch to tab” option. Google promises that soon Omnibox will be able to search through Google Drive files.

The updated password manager is another significant feature. It can automatically generate and save strong passwords for you. Also, Chrome comes with an improved autofill that can save you from the daunting task of filling online checkout forms. Chrome will accurately fill in your passwords, addresses, and credit cards numbers as the information is stored in your Google account.

Looking Forward

In the next ten years, Google wants to provide an even better and more immersive browsing experience. The company is working on integrating augmented reality(AR) into Chrome. Explaining this in the website blog, Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Google VP of product management said, “Say you’re shopping for a couch online and want to see how it would look in your living room. With the power of AR and Chrome, you’d be able to place a virtual rendition of a couch in your living room, right from your smartphone. This is just one example of how more immersive experiences on Chrome could help you get things done faster.”

Google is looking forward to bringing more AI-driven features to make Chrome smarter. “With a smarter Chrome, you will be able to do more than just look at a webpage. Imagine searching on Chrome for a singer you just heard, and having Chrome show you not just their bio, but also their upcoming concert near you and where to purchase tickets. With AI, Chrome will also better understand what you’re trying to get done, and help you do so faster,” said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury.