Google introduces a new side panel to customise Chrome’s new tab page, making it easier to use on a desktop.

Since its inception, Google Chrome has always aimed to enhance the user experience. As a Google product, it is an intuitive tool that has a major market share among prominent browsers in the industry. Additionally, Chrome developers continuously review their products and release new updates to their apps.

You will be pleased to hear that Chrome has a long list of upcoming additions. These features are kept in a special section called the Chrome Flag, where upcoming features are tested. Recently, Chrome added a smart, customizable sidebar that allows you to create a custom and redesigned browsing experience. To understand this better, let’s discuss it.

Google rolls out customized Chrome with this new side panel.

Google Chrome already has a sidebar that provides basic functionality for users, but that is not enough to make things go smoothly. The developers of Chrome recently introduced a customizable sidebar to help you design the desktop appearance of Chrome. In addition to the previous sidebar, this new customized sidebar offers the same features.

According to Dan Peng (Product Manager, Chrome), you can now customize your Chrome appearance with just a simple click. Chrome’s desktop sidebar can be customized from the sidebar itself. These customizations can help you choose matching colors, themes, settings, and backgrounds. For a better view, follow these three features of the new sidebar.

Test themes, colors, and settings in real time.

Before anything, the first and foremost customization on Chrome desktop is changing the theme. We tried out multiple themes and colors, but due to the lack of a real-time preview, creates quite a hassle for users. From the recently added sidebar, you can apply multiple themes and colors. Here, you can experiment with multiple features and get the perfect combination that suits your preferences. To use this feature, follow the steps below.

1. Open a new tab on your Chrome desktop.
2. Click on the customize Chrome icon shown in the bottom right corner.
3. Following this, a sidebar opens up with the available features.
4. Now choose the colors, themes, and preferred settings that you want.
5. That’s it! In this way, you can test different themes and colors in real time.

Refer to backgrounds and images from Chrome’s huge library.

Chrome has plenty of images and backgrounds that you can set on your desktop. To be specific, Chrome has these images in different categories like Earth, Land, Seascapes, and so on. Apart from that, if the user gets confused while selecting from Chrome’s library, he can look for a rotating background. For this, click on any theme collection and enable the toggle refresh daily option. These backgrounds will be accessible similarly to those mentioned above.

Adjust the page color to your theme.

With the latest sidebar addition, you can adjust the page color, or, I can say, mix the theme color with the page. Whatever the theme you have chosen, in case you find a mismatch with the page color, then, the adjusting feature can let you make the entire page appear as per the choice you made for the theme. These color options will be available beneath the theme preview when you choose any theme. So use that feature and rematch those unmatched things.

After reading these three major additions, I am sure you are eager to know how you will get this smart sidebar. So I want to let you know that, as always, you need to update your Chrome desktop app to the latest version. Because the new sidebar has already been rolled out with the new update. If you don’t know how to update Chrome on your PC, then follow these simple instructions to do so.

1. Open Google Chrome on your PC.
2. At the top right, click on the More option.
3. Under More, click Help >> About Chrome.
4. Click on Update Google Chrome and wait for it to update.
5. Once complete, restart Chrome, and you will find the new sidebar on your desktop.

Conclusively, this new side panel addition is not a technical advancement. It seems here developers think about appearance. I mean to say they emphasize that Since the beginning of its existence, Google Chrome has always tried to enhance the user experience in response to themes, colors, and related adjustments. But note that this is not the last update; for sure, the next update will include something technical that empowers more functionality.

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