Chrome for desktop is getting a new look for its 15th birthday, in line with Google’s Material You design language. With the overhaul, the company is also introducing new features that help you personalize the browser further. From fancy themes to basic color tweaks, Chrome has the tools you need to make your website browser look and feel like it’s yours.
Alongside, it is getting a revamped menu with easier access to the most commonly used options. In addition, the browser will receive improvements to the inbuilt search functions and Safe Browsing. The Chrome Web Store has also been re-imagined under the Material You philosophy. Read on for more details on how to customize your Google Chrome browser.
How to customize Google Chrome
Google says Chrome’s new look on desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux) is based on the company’s Material You design language, featuring refreshed “icons with a focus on legibility” and new “color palettes that better complement your tabs and toolbar.” Here’s how you’re able to customize the browser using the new features:
How to Customise Chrome via the Appearance section
How to Customize via the new Chrome Web Store
Other new Chrome goodies
The update is widely available now, so you should be able to follow the steps outlined above to try out the Material You themes for Google Chrome right now. You might find the look and feel you’ve always wanted for your web browser.
Other features recently added to Google Chrome include a revamped menu, which can be accessed via the three-dot button on the top right. The new menu is more visually appealing than older iterations and is meant to give quicker access to commonly used features like Extensions, Google Translate, and the Google Password Manager. Here, you can easily manage Chrome profiles, add new ones, or switch to others. Profiles can be considered part of the new personalization options, as each profile can have its own themes and colors, customizable via the same steps as above.
There is also a new Tune icon for site settings. Here, you can manage permissions granted to each site, including camera, microphone, and location access, and review privacy and security items such as cookies and site data.
The new Chrome Web Store also gets Google’s Safety Check to try to ensure extensions are safe. As we mentioned, the latest overhaul of Chrome for desktop also brings new Search features, including the Google Search side panel, which will open when you select “Search this page with Google” from the three-dot menu. This side panel can also be pinned to the toolbar and shows related searches and details about the page’s source, apart from being a place to search.
Finally, Google has also upgraded its Safe Browsing functionality, improving the Standard protection mode’s frequency of site checks to real-time. With the change, the company expects to see 25 per cent improved protection from malware and phishing threats. These features will also be rolling out in the coming weeks.
Make sure to check out our previous coverage of the bestGoogle Chrome tips and tricks to help you master your desktop browser. We’ve also got a list of the10 best Google Chrome extensions, a great starting point in helping improve your productivity on your web browser.
