Earlier this year, the first signs of a major visual overhaul for Chrome began appearing online. It looked like Google might finally be bringing Material Design to its web browser, but there was no indication of when the update might actually be available for the average Chrome user on Windows or Mac.
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On Tuesday, The Next Web reported that a vast majority of the visual upgrades had made their way into Chrome Canary 51 — the next version of the browser designed specifically for developers and early adopters.
Many of these upgrades have already been seen in some capacity, but here’s a list of the changes users will be able to test out when Canary 51 launches:
- The tab bar at the top of the window will be changed from grey to translucent, allowing other apps, photos and videos to peak through.
- Tabs will have sharp edges rather than rounded ones.
- The menu button will lose its hamburger icon in favor of three vertical dots.
- Incognito mode will create an entirely black window, in order to make it more obvious when the user is using an incognito window.
- New developer tools allow for dark mode and more appearance tweaking.
- There will be redesigned pages for Downloads, Extensions, Settings and History.
It’s not a complete list, but it should give a clear indication that Chrome is going to look strikingly different before the end of the year. According to the Chromium Development Calendar, a stable build of Chrome 51 won’t drop until at least May 31st, but if you want to test out some of the new browser features today, simply follow these instructions from The Next Web (but only if you’re willing to work with a potentially unstable browser).
