Google is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Chrome web browser by unveiling a refreshed design.
The tech giant has gone for a more rounded look on the user interface, akin to Google’s latest Android operating system layout, in a bid to make browsing the web simpler.
As part of the update, Chrome is now showing answers to some search results directly in the address bar, saving users the need to click around multiple pages.
We hit double digits! Thanks to all of you for making #GoogleChrome’s last 10 years so awesome. pic.twitter.com/grBZusVmel
— Google Chrome (@googlechrome) September 4, 2018
Whenever you’ve got too many tabs open you will also be able to use the address bar to find a specific tab and switch to it.
“We changed the shape of our tabs so that the website icons are easier to see, which makes it easier to navigate across lots of tabs,” explained Chrome product managers Ellie Powers and Chris Beckmann.
Google has improved how autofill works, improving the accuracy of any passwords or addresses you have saved for automatically filling forms.
Pick a screen, any screen.
We’ve got something new for you, no matter where you use #GoogleChrome https://t.co/dKBdXSOUUi pic.twitter.com/0GzvTmpoiJ
— Google Chrome (@googlechrome) September 4, 2018
Google’s own password manager has also been enhanced, with the ability to generate and suggest strong passwords that it stores in the web browser for you.
The update comes as Chrome celebrates its 10th birthday, which includes a little surprise for anyone familiar with the Offline Dinosaur game.
Here comes a new Easter egg in @googlechrome for 10th birthday of Google's browser: a birthday cake & party hat in 404 page-not-found error message dinosaur game. On display in Chrome in September. Try it out by switching off your network and trying to load a site. pic.twitter.com/fgTgshVspd
— Stephen Shankland (@stshank) September 4, 2018
Chrome is the world’s most popular web browser, taking 62% of the market share, according to recent numbers by NetMarketShare.
“As we look to the next 10 years of Chrome, we see an even better and more immersive browsing experience on the horizon,” said Google vice-president Rahul Roy-Chowdhury.
“Already, we’re working on integrating augmented reality (AR) into Chrome to bring information that you interact with across the web and put directly into your physical environment.”