Google Chrome has not changed much over the past decades but gives users new features for exploring different stuff. The significant Google Chrome update was released in 2018; now, Google has another plan to give the browser a fresh coating of paint later in 2024.
Over the past few months, Google has been working on Chrome Refresh 2023, referred to as CR23 in the snippet of Chromium code. It’s inspired by the material you design language of the company that is already used to varying extents on Android and ChromeOS.
The details can be changed, and the main toolbar has large buttons, rounded top corners, and multiple popup windows that have been given more rounded corners. The material Android provides you to change the main colors, but Google Chrome doesn’t seem to have any color customization right now.
In addition, the tab bar shows in blue color by default on Mac. And if you are on dark mode, it uses the same black and gray colors as Chrome’s current dark mode. There are some indications that Google continues experimenting with background colors, element heights, and text colors in the Chromium codebase. Thus, some level of customization may be available in the final design.
The most noticeable change is the search bar, which now appears with a filled-in lock, warning, or Chrome icon on the left. As a result of clicking on the button, the same information about the current page is shown, such as the SSL security or whether permissions are granted.
The design refresh is accessible through a series of an experimental feature flags. It includes #chrome-refresh-2024, #omnibox-cr23-expanded-state-height, and #omnibox-cr23-expanded-state-shape. Now we have to wait and know how the design progresses over the coming weeks and months. Currently, there is no official date for the final rollout except for a vague timeline of 2024.
