Google Chrome gets Material You redesign and new search and Web Store features

Google is releasing a Material You-based redesign in version 117 for the Chrome browser. The new design includes rounded corners, new color palettes and updated icons. Some new features are also being added to, among other things, the Web Store.

According to Google the new icons are intended to improve readability and the new color palettes are intended to ‘better complement the tabs and taskbar’. Another visual innovation is that each option in the three-dot menu on the URL bar has its own icon. An expandable submenu for the Google account is now also available in that menu. In this version, the key icon next to the URL has also been replaced by a different icon, as announced by Google earlier this year.

Furthermore, a Google button has now been added to the sidebar. This opens a side panel so that users can immediately look up the images on the opened page on Google. There are also some examples of searches related to the page the user is on, and users can start a completely new search. They do not have to open a new tab for this.

The Safe Browsing feature, which allows the browser to check whether the URL a user is on matches a known malicious domain, should work in real time from version 117. Previously, Chrome’s list of malicious URLs was refreshed every thirty to sixty minutes, but according to Google, sixty percent of phishing domains now exist for less than ten minutes. This made them difficult to block in the old way. The tech giant expects that this measure will increase protection against malware and phishing by 25 percent. The Material You redesign of the browser, including the new features, should be available to every Chrome user within the next few weeks.

Finally, the Chrome Web Store is also getting a Material You redesign, including some new features. For example, personal recommendations for extensions should be made available, and they will be organized into different categories, such as ‘AI-powered extensions’. The Safety Check functionality of the digital store will also be expanded to extensions, which means that Google will now also check these for safety. These changes are effective immediately available to everyone as a public preview.