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Google Chrome's New UI is Ugly, And People Are Very Angry (zdnet.com)
Catalin Cimpanu, writing for ZDNet: Every major user interface (UI) redesign project is a hit and miss game, and Google's new Chrome UI appears to be a colossal miss. Designed with mobile devices in mind, the new Chrome user interface style was officially rolled out in September this year, with the release of Chrome version 69. Not all users liked the new UI, and this was clear from the beginning, with some users voicing their discontent online even back then. However, those users who didn't appreciate the new lighter-toned Chrome interface had the option to visit the chrome://flags page and modify a Chrome setting and continue using Chrome's older UI.
But with Chrome version 71, released earlier this month, Google has removed the Chrome flag that allowed users to use the old UI. As you might imagine, this change did not go well, at all. Chrome's new UI might have been developed with a mobile-first approach in mind, but the UI is problematic on laptops and desktops, where its lighter tone and rounded tabs make it extremely hard to distinguish tabs from one another, especially when users open multiple tabs. Since being able to distinguish and switch between tabs at a fast pace is an important detail in most of today's internet-based jobs, many users have been having trouble adapting to the new UI both at work and at home, especially if they're the kind of people who deal with tens of tabs at the same time.
But with Chrome version 71, released earlier this month, Google has removed the Chrome flag that allowed users to use the old UI. As you might imagine, this change did not go well, at all. Chrome's new UI might have been developed with a mobile-first approach in mind, but the UI is problematic on laptops and desktops, where its lighter tone and rounded tabs make it extremely hard to distinguish tabs from one another, especially when users open multiple tabs. Since being able to distinguish and switch between tabs at a fast pace is an important detail in most of today's internet-based jobs, many users have been having trouble adapting to the new UI both at work and at home, especially if they're the kind of people who deal with tens of tabs at the same time.
Not specific to Chrome, but - why does "mobile first" generally seem to consistently result in "crappy everywhere"?
#DeleteChrome
I haven't noticed anything. Just opened "Help -> About" and I have "Version 71.0.3578.98 (Official Build) (64-bit)". My phone is v71 too. Is this some Apple thing?
I use Chrome both in work and at home. I would end up having a lot of tabs open in work, especially. I've never seen any if the issues being described here. Nor heard anyone in work complain. So I really don't get this...
Is this maybe just one person trying to find a reason to rant because they just don't like change, no matter how small, and are blowing stuff out of proportion?
...everyone told us to use the system theme when drawing UI widgets and such. What changed?
The thing that this particular teletubby interface update broke is information density. After the update, the new skin in both gmail and calendar quite simply puts less on a screen. On the desktop it is annoying. On the mobile devices with limited screen real estate, it is downright devastating for usage and productivity.
It's as if since the turn of the century, user interfaces have been continuously redesigned to be more and more friendly toward children under 2 - with rounded corners and buttons too big to accidentally swallow. It's as if Fischer Price have been contracted to do user interface designs ever since.
Anyone who willingly uses Google products is asking for either disappointment or betrayal.
How many times does Google have to arbitrarily kill off "products" before you cretins GET IT ?
Be quick now, and mod this post down because it threatens your sad little self image as a willing user of shit ( Google ) products.
maybe that UI designers come from the gaming industry. They design puzzles. Once one get used to things, hide the toolbar, hide the scrolling bars, hide and seek is the new trend. That is what games are for: find the treasure! Find the current URL, fine the place to print, jackpot. Even when reading stories, the pictures have to appear dynamically, nonlinear story telling makes even reading a text feel like running through a maze. Maybe one has to swipe left, maybe down, maybe click. Just add a few adds, which attack from random sides and we are in a full blown computer game. Sometimes, one really misses the simplicity of the 90ies.
No, Google Chrome's UI has *always* been ugly. The shame is they won't let users change it easily. I use Chrome for only a handful of websites that simply don't work very well with other browsers. I can't imagine having to use it all of the time.