14 DAY TRIAL // It's been a busy week for Chrome developers and the cutting edge Chromium versions have been adding quite a few new features. Several UI changes have been implemented or are in the works, related to features that are still mostly in the planning or in early development stages.
Most of the changes won't be affecting regular users soon, but once they're completed they should prove quite interesting.
One the most advanced projects inside Chrome/Chromium at this moment is the touch UI for touch-based devices such as tablets. Several ideas and components have been completed but there's plenty to do still.
The latest additions are scrolling tabs which ensure that the currently selected tab stays in view. Other than that, there aren't any details and you probably won't be seeing the actual working result too soon.
The profile button, which enables users to run multiple profiles within the same browser, has been moved slightly to make room for a new full screen button which occupies the top right corner.
Those using side tabs will notice that there are now two arrows which enable you to cycle through the tabs if you have too many open.
Ubuntu users, those that have already switched to Ubuntu 11.04, will have a pleasant surprise in the most recent Chromium builds as the browser now integrates with the Unity desktop.
Specifically, Chromium introduced support for the Global Menu in Ubuntu, though it's not enabled by default yet. The feature is accessible through the about:flags section descriptively dubbed "Experimental GNOME menu bar support."
For now, many of these features aren't of much interest to regular users. While some are working to varying degrees, many are not and they're not enabled by default even in the cutting-edge and unstable Chromium builds. But they do offer a glimpse of what's to come and, since Chrome development moves pretty fast, it won't be long before millions of Chrome users will be enjoying them.
