Google Teases New Chrome Tabs As Part Of Material Design Overhaul

Now, instead of opening a local audio/video file in your browser and casting the tab, you can simply– from the new material refresh design elements of its Chrome web browser to split-screen tablet functions which Google has been currently working on for a while now.

The search giant has started testing the Chrome design in the latest Canary developer builds of the web browser, allowing anyone to get an early look at what Google is experimenting with. The most obvious addition is a new address bar with rounded tabs that look really ugly on the desktop version of Chrome. Google’s rounded corners on tabs look a lot more like Firefox’s old design, and they look very different to the current trapezoid-like shaped tabs found in the existing version of Chrome.

9to5Google first reported the new design which Google published in an updated Material Design document, that references a “Material Design Refresh” instead of the “Material Design 2” naming we’d seen earlier this year. The refresh appears to coincide with the changes Google is making to Chrome so it’s more touch-friendly alongside Chrome OS. Google’s rounded look in Chrome also matches the company’s plans for a refreshed Gmail interface, which should debut very soon.

May this year, Google will be holding its I/O developer conference, and the company is expected to explain further in detail about its Material Design Refresh project, which will likely be making its way to a lot more products than just Gmail and Chrome.