Sunday, September 23, 2018

Chrome 69 - Part I

On September 2, 2018 Google's Chrome browser turned 10 and Google released Chrome 69.

I'm not picky about subtle UI changes like rounded tabs vs. slanted tabs or even different color palates.

Things that make it harder to do what I use a browser for is what really bothers me.

Chrome 69 took the user icon out of the title bar and put it on the toolbar. When it was in the title bar it showed your first name. In that entry I changed my "name" to "." so it almost didn't show in the title bar. Chrome 69 moved it to the toolbar and now it shows your avatar. And you can't hide that icon like you can hide extension icons.

Chrome 68
Chrome 69

Prior to Chrome 69 when you hovered your mouse over the "X" of a tab to close it, the background of the "X" turned red. That provided a clear indication that you were about to close that tab. Now the background of the "X" turns to white. This doesn't give much contrast on the gray background of the tabs.

Chrome 68
Chrome 69

Notice that this highlighting is completely invisible on the tab in focus as the tab is white.

Prior to Chrome 69 when you opened an incognito window the top left of the title bar had a spy icon. It was a very obvious indicator that you were in incognito mode. Now when you open an incognito window there is a gray spy icon in the toolbar which has a gray background. Much less obvious.

Chrome 68
Chrome 69

I guess I'll get over it but I just don't understand how any of these are improvements.

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