the Chromium logo

The Chromium Projects

Window UI Variants

UI under development. Designs are subject to change.

While working on the UI for Chromium OS, we explored three basic structures for our main interface: Classic, Compact, and Sidetab.

Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and while we are still interested in the variations, our current builds are focused on classic and compact navigation styles.


Classic navigation

Classic navigation screenshot

The most basic navigation style is that of a single maximized Chromium window. This is the equivalent of the Chromium browser windowing UI in maximized mode.

Strengths

Weaknesses


Compact navigation

Compact navigation screenshot

If we take the address bar out of the tab, it can be used as both a launcher and switcher; the user doesn't have to worry about replacing their active tab. The current url shows while a site is loading, and can be edited or changed by clicking on the tab.

Strengths

Weaknesses


Sidetab navigation

Sidetab navigation screenshot

By moving the tab-strip to the side, we gain a huge amount of real estate for tabs. The vertical alignment also allows for date ordering and grouping of tabs. By moving the address bar out of the tab and above the strip, it can be used both for navigation as well as search.

Strengths

Weaknesses


Touchscreen navigation

Touchscreen navigation screenshot

For touch screens, we provide much larger tab and toolbar targets than on standard chrome. This UI takes up more screen space, but is ideal for portrait devices, and can be autohidden to have full-screen content. This treatment could be used on any edge of the screen, and it may be preferable to use the bottom edge depending on the device.

Strengths

Weaknesses