We're bringing Material You to
@googlechrome
for Desktop (ChromeOS, MacOS, Windows, Linux) with a refreshed approach to theming that can flexibly adapt to OS light/dark modes ✨
I'm a nerd for interface design details 🤓 so this year hope to share a few from
@googlechrome
.
First up - some history about different ways we've tried (and failed) to tell people when updates are available.
#littlebigdetails
thread 👇
To celebrate
#BlackHistoryMonth
, we commissioned new
@googlechrome
themes from Black artists ✨🎨
If you were looking for a sign to customize your browser, here it is!
Sometimes small details can make a big difference.
@googlechrome
will soon start hiding the content of site notifications received while screen sharing. We hope this helps people keep private notifications private while presenting.
New! We’re trying to make it easier to control music (and video) in
@googlechrome
. But we aren’t sure the interaction is quite right (for focused tabs, for long-paused things) so interested in feedback as you use it. 🎶 🎵
If you're looking for more ways to stay organized in
@googlechrome
, you may benefit from Tab Groups. We hope that by making the groups collapsible it'll be easier for folks to reclaim some space and focus better on specific tasks.
👋,
@robinrendle
- we're trying out a new way for people to follow websites in
@googlechrome
!
It's based on RSS and you can read a bit more about it here
We've been thinking about how to making permission requests for notifications less interruptive in Chrome. Trying to strike balance: loud enough for you notice the important ones and quiet enough so that you can ignore the rest. Feedback welcomed!
Chrome is hiring designers, researchers, and writers 📣
If you're looking to start something new this year, we'd love to hear from you! Join the team to help us imagine a more vibrant, open Web and a more safe, helpful browser.
👈
💡You can now use your
@googlechrome
saved passwords across any app on iOS. This is particularly helpful if you want to use sites in Chrome on your computer and want to use the associated apps on your iOS device without typing passwords manually (🙏 Chrome sync).
You can try it out via "Customize Chrome" at the bottom of the New Tab Page and choose whether to use a light, dark, or device-anchored Material You color palette. I use different colors to distinguish between my personal and work profiles at a glance.
We're exploring a new approach for helping people identify dangerous sites by displaying critical parts of the URL differently at different moments. If you're comfortable trying out experimental things, we'd love your help.
Chrome 86 will experiment with how URLs are displayed in the omnibox, to measure if it helps keep people safer:
try it out (flags at bottom of blog post) and give us feedback with this bug template:
If you use
@googlechrome
for iOS you'll soon start to notice some new interaction design for quick actions! We want to offer browser-y helpfulness (save password, translate page, etc.) in a way that's visible when you need it, and ignorable when you don't.
We took a look at common paths people take to learn about
@googlechrome
functionality and found that many use the omnibox to search for a topic and then visit
To help some of those folks find the right Chrome UI faster, we're trying something new ✨
👩🔬 We hope to gather more feedback about
@googlechrome
updates as they're in development. If you're using Canary today (and soon Dev and Beta) you'll notice a little beaker on the toolbar that makes it easier to try out new stuff and share suggestions about how it should evolve.
Can't get enough of the new
#GoogleChrome
redesign? Check out this interview with lead designer
@alexainslie
to learn how the changes make browsing even better →
At
#GoogleIO
Sundar shared that
@googlechrome
helped people translate 20B webpages last month!
A story: while trying to understand how to better meet the needs of folks getting their first smart phones in India
#NBU
, we learned our translation approach wasn't working well... 🧵
I'm looking for a designer to join the
@googlechrome
team in Paris. If you know anyone with strong interaction/visual design skills and iOS experience, please send 'em my way. When we return to the office they'll work near my favorite Google staircase!
✨ In the theme of
#littlebigdetails
, you can now use the latest
@googlechrome
to create (and then share) links that point to highlighted text.
To try it out, open the context menu after you've selected some text and choose "copy link to highlight".
There’s a misunderstanding that designing for privacy ends at picking good, safe defaults.
Privacy choices, however, are personal and a defaults-only framing is too reductive. That's why we built something new in
@googlechrome
to help people make their own considered choices.
Productivity tip: try out Tab Search in
@googlechrome
to jump quickly between your open tabs.
You'll find it in the top right corner of the browser window and once open, you'll see the keyboard shortcut you can use to summon it in the future.
A few other
#littlebigdetails
👇
We’re iterating on some of the interactions for
@googlechrome
tab groups. If you have suggestions or frustrations or edge cases, please pass them along!
Our latest iteration from
@peterbostrom
@xocoyotl
@_bklmn
is a chip on the toolbar that's legible at a glance, keeps the menu icon visible, and doesn't rely on motion or color to communicate. If you see it on your toolbar, it's time for an update 🥳✨
We're replacing the 🔒 lock in
@googlechrome
with something new this year.
@Sereeena
et al invested the creative energy to find a lock-alternative that was more neutral (think "settings" vs. "safety") in order to help overcome misunderstandings about the lock's precise meaning...
Expanding student access to creative tools!
@figma
@googlechrome
✨
I used to think we should make custom tools for learners. But in many cases expanding access to ones the pros already use can be more empowering.
We've been working to expand the security and privacy protections
@googlechrome
offers. A few important updates will be available in our next release 🎉🔒
Billions of images on the web today don't have alt-text provided by creators/developers. That makes it difficult (sometimes impossible) for people who rely on screen readers to use the web.
To close the gap,
@googlechrome
can automatically generate labels for images.
#a11y
🔐 Before biometric methods were widely available, people using Android unlocked their devices with PINs, patterns, and passwords.
I used
@ProcessingOrg
to explore different pattern interface approaches while working on the Android security team in 2016
#littlebigdetails
If you use Chrome on Android to fill in saved passwords or credit cards, you'll notice some improvements soon! Aiming for a an experience that's more safe, convenient, friendly, and reachable.
One of my favorite things about making
@googlechrome
for ChromeOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS is that we get to negotiate how to be 1) Chrome-y and 2) Google-y and 3) OS-y all at the same time.
As many of you noticed, we introduced a new Chrome icon for macOS Big Sur today ✨ The team has also been exploring some further macOS-aligned options (some examples here), and we’re interested in hearing what you think about them 🙏
People sometimes misunderstand security and privacy as engineering-only disciplines. I see human-centered design and research playing a critical role - especially as more software teams need to think about how to build tools that are useful, usable, flexible, and approachable.
We’re rolling out new tools + redesigned privacy & security settings in
@googlechrome
on desktop to help you better control your safety on the web: a safety check tool, 3rd party cookie controls in Incognito mode, Enhanced Safe Browsing, Secure DNS & more
We've been working on something new in
@googlechrome
to offer more expressive control when sharing links.
#littlebigdetails
We drew inspiration from the ways people creatively make custom pull quotes using text selection and screenshots on Twitter.
We've continued to iterate on UI for permissions requests in
@googlechrome
aiming to strike a balance between 1) visible enough that you don't miss important ones and 2) minimal enough that you can ignore the rest
#littlebigdetails
@leggett
@googlechrome
Agree. We haven't found the right approach for that PWA install yet (annoyingly prominent when you don't want to install). For permissions management generally I'm interested in using the lock ("Page Info") more and RHS less. Some work in progress via the "Permissions Chip" flag.
Chrome brand icon design comes with fun constraints. Does it feel familiar, fresh, Google-y? Does it scale well? Work in monochrome? In print and in product? On hardware, taskbars/docks, and home screens?🤯
Excited to send this out into the world!
Some of you might have noticed a new icon in Chrome’s Canary update today. Yes! we’re refreshing Chrome’s brand icons for the first time in 8 years. The new icons will start to appear across your devices soon.
Ephemerality is one of the Web's most magical properties. You can bounce from link to link without app-store interruptions or slow install flows. But it can be burdensome to correctly type URLs (especially on small keyboards) 😖
Could our phones help? A thread about QR codes 👇
Widgets are coming to Chrome on iOS! I designed and implemented them, and can’t wait to see them on your Home Screen 📱🦖 Here's a bit of behind-the-scenes on how we landed on these directions ⬇️
I judged
#UnsplashAwards
this year in the 3D Renders category and selected Cash Macanaya's astronaut 🏆
The image reminds me of science fiction writing because it challenges real-world constraints while still creating space for human reflection 📘
If you juggle multiple
@googlechrome
windows, you might appreciate adding a custom name for each one ✨
#littlebigdetails
Custom window names are stable over time (compared with using the last-focused-tab's title) and can be set up via context menu on the window frame.
Captions make audio and video more accessible. You might need them if you're in a noisy spot temporarily or if you're one of the 466 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing. 📺🦻
To help out when captions aren't available,
@googlechrome
can now create them in real-time.
Tab groups in
@googlechrome
are now collapsible to help you concentrate on the task at hand. We're still iterating on some of the details - for example, I want to be able to reposition a collapsed group without it expanding to focus a tab within - and we welcome your ideas! 📝
😨 Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed at work?
🤕 Me too!
💡 Here are a few strategies you can try and a metaphor about bricks illustrated by
@tfmessenger
to help you remember 'em.
Got a bit emotional during the Pixel 6 event today 😢 Chrome’s Material You redesign is near and dear to my heart, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it adapt to you on your Pixel running Android 12! ✨
Stolen passwords are a major safety problem. I'm proud that
@googlechrome
- in addition to helping you save, fill, generate, and sync passwords across your devices - can now tell you whether your saved passwords have been compromised and need to be changed.
Raise your hand if you’ve lost track of how many tabs you have open right now ✋Stay organized while browsing with new improvements to Chrome, coming soon →
On a day for the history books,
@TheAmandaGorman
delivered a poem that more than met the moment. Young people like her are proof that "there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it; if only we're brave enough to be it."
I've made a habit out of drawing my ideas even when they're very small. Here's an example from 2017 when I was thinking about how to improve context menus for text fields in
@googlechrome
to 1) make autofill more reliable and 2) elevate OS-level emoji.
#littlebigdetails
Jump to an open
@googlechrome
tab with your keyboard! We hope Tab search will help you juggle complex tasks spanning multiple windows and avoid opening duplicate tabs. It'll be available first on Chromebooks and will roll out more broadly soon. ⌨️🤓
Tab search in
#Chrome
is a new way to find an open tab – just type the page name you’re looking and for and it’ll pop up. Learn more about this latest version of Chrome →
If you use
@googlechrome
on an iPhone and want to try out a more thumb-friendly address bar, you can now long press for the option to move it. This works in reverse too in case you want to change back ✨
I'm trying out something new this year to keep track of routines and (aspirational) habits: added a Siri Shortcut to my home screen that opens a form in
@googlechrome
. So far it's helped make nightly reflection (and input) easier 🤓
✨Personal news✨
This Monday I joined the design team of
@googlechrome
! Excited to contribute to billions of users' web browsing experience and play the dinosaur game at work🦖🌵🏜
We also added tools so you can create your own QR codes for over-the-shoulder sharing or saving/printing/sending. In
@googlechrome
on mobile you can find this in the Share menu. On Desktop it lives in the omnibox for now while we search for a permanent home.
#littlebigdetails
I've kept a tumblr going since 2008 - one post per day, every day.
At first it felt silly to collect things (links, photos, videos, etc.) like this but over time I've come to appreciate the ritual and the interest/taste archive.
Recommended if you need a new 2022 habit 🕺
With our latest version of
@googlechrome
, we substantially increased its speed across all major platforms, including Chrome on Mac which was given the highest score to date for any browser (300) on Apple's Speedometer.
For a while we also tried replacing the the menu icon on the toolbar with an update-icon. This increased salience but also caused confusion because many people thought (reasonably!) that the normal menu had disappeared.
Oops 🙃
How do you design something that you want to be invisible? “Start with simplicity,” say the designers behind
@googlechrome
. 💡 We talked with them about the browser's 2018 revamp →
I can’t offer very much to LGBT+ folks at home right now wondering whether it’s safe to come out (in their family, workplace, or country) but I -can- be visible myself 🌈. If you’re struggling, please know that I’m rooting for you (and my DMs are open if I can offer you support).
"On the end, that’s Gmail. He’s the only one been around longer’n me, and he’s not going anywhere. Practically invincible. This fella next to me has a page of upstate real estate listings that get refreshed every so often. We call him The Dreamer."
🤓 "... fixing a major
@googlechrome
performance issue but also resulted in a correctness fix for other emojis. For instance, 🏳️🌈 is encoded as U+1F3F3( 🏳️) + U+1F308 (🌈); before the itemization fix, browser UI would incorrectly render this grapheme as 🏳️🌈." /cc
@jenniferdaniel
Another deep dive into some recent
@googlechrome
performance improvements:
Tl;dr: Assume ignorance, relentlessly focus on identifying the root cause, and be wary of emoji rendering🔪
#TheFastAndTheCurious
cc:
@gcharette1
🎉 Type to switch tabs! I want to use this but in practice find it's easy to miss the button on the right when typing fast. We're playing with some improvements. To try work-in-progress stuff search in chrome://flags for "dedicated row". /cc
@_bklmn
@yana88yu
@googlechrome
“The climate movement must stop hoping for heroes and start becoming so powerful that we can frighten politicians into leading on climate. It starts by voting — not because current politicians deserve our support — but because the climate movement deserves more political power.”
"Few things motivate a politician more than the prospect of winning or losing an election.... Accordingly, what the climate movement truly needs right now is raw political power—and lots of it—consistently applied in local, state and federal elections."
We've also given people ways to tell Chrome about what languages they read (without needing to change their OS language).
I'm a nerd for
#littlebigdetails
and for stories like this that remind us to (re)check assumptions and to approach "known" problems with humility.
Generate unique passwords and keep them safe over time!
You can use passwords saved in
@googlechrome
on your laptop to sign in via both apps and sites on your phone (Android and iOS) 🥳 🔐
Google Password Manager makes online security more convenient — and consistent — across
#Chrome
and
@Android
.
Learn how upcoming updates, like Password Checkup for weak and reused passwords, offer a safe, seamless login experience from anywhere →
Head of Design at
@GoogleChrome
,
@AlexAinslie
, is judging the new 3D Renders category at this year’s
#UnsplashAwards
.
Head to to submit to the 3D Renders category.
Submissions open Oct 1 - Oct 31st.🏆
Enhanced Safe Browsing protection is a good example because the security benefit (real-time checks to protect against sophisticated domain-hopping attackers) may not be right for everyone (as it relies on sending URLs to Google).
Building from one common reference icon, we'll now also have OS-specific expressions that reinforce the care we take to make a browser that's crafted (and optimized) for all of your devices.