By Pascal Oparada
In what tech analysts see as long overdue, Google Chrome has been redesigned, reports Mashable.
The redesigned Chrome is now available on Canary for Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. Canary is an experimental version of Chrome that has the latest features in development.
Chrome Canary is designed for developers and early adopters.
Spotted by Engadget, the news comes via self-described “Chromium Evangelist” François Beaufort. Chromium is the open-source version of Chrome, that contributors like Beaufort work on. It’s where a lot of ideas and features get tested and kicked around before making it into Canary, and ultimately the stable version of Chrome.
“The redesign is part of Google’s Material Design push, which is a toolkit to unify User Interface across Google products. A side-by-side comparison of the three dots drop-down menu in the upper right corner shows the design differences,” analysts say.
Anyone can try out the redesign now with Chrome flags in Canary. Flags allow users to enable experimental features like the redesign.
“So what’s in the update? According to Beaufort, it’s “tab shape, single tab mode, omnibox suggestion icons, tab strip coloring, pinned tabs, and alert indicators.” Using the new browser, it also seems faster, though there isn’t documentation that specifically addresses that.
It’s hard not to notice that the more rectangular tab shape looks a bit like Mozilla Firefox.