The release of Google’s Chrome browser version 69 is expected to bring a new Material Design interface which can actually already be activated early in Chrome 68 using the browser’s hidden ‘flags’ settings menu. For clarity, that’s the new interface which rounds out the URL box and brings slight tweaks to the color scheme of the browser, first spotted in the Canary Channel of the browser and OS. The latter of those changes makes everything easier to read while the more general purpose is to bring consistency to the browser across each of the platforms for which it is available. Although flags are experimental in nature and should usually only be accessed by more tech-savvy users, the process itself is fairly straightforward.
For Chrome OS and other desktops – with the notable exception of Mac – it requires just a single flag to be enabled. Users can turn on Material Design by navigating to ‘chrome://flags’ and performing a search for ‘#top-chrome-md’ on the resulting page. The “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” option needs to be set to ‘refresh’ and the browser reset or Chrome OS reset to enable the changes. Android users aren’t left out of the mix either but will need to enter two separate URLs into the latest version of the Chrome browser’s address bar in order to get access to the new design. After ensuring that the latest update is installed, users of the world’s most popular mobile OS will need to first open a new window and enter ‘chrome://flags/#enable-chrome-modern-design’ into the omnibox. From there, they’ll need to enter ‘chrome://flags/#ntp-modern-layout’ before closing Chrome completely in order to implement the changes on restart.
On Mac machines, an additional flag is required. Namely, macOS users will need to also search for ‘#views-browser-windows’ and enable that setting in addition to the ‘#top-chrome-md’ setting. Conversely, users of the company’s iOS products can follow the same method as desktop users but the setting is titled ‘UI Refresh Phase 1’ on the OS. The newly redesigned interface should be turned on by default once Chrome version 69 releases without the need to navigate hidden submenus. So it may be a good idea for those who aren’t completely comfortable with the process to hold off for the time being.