Will Google Kill the URL Bar in Chrome?

All web browsers are getting serious overhauls with the most recent being Internet Explorer 9 with its new one box. This is a unified address and search box and it makes sense as you could always search from the URL box in browsers anyway.

Now ConceivablyTech are reporting that Google is now considering its options for future versions of its Chrome browser and they could be going even further than Microsoft.

In an interesting move, one possible option is to remove the address and search boxes altogether and instead allow people to type searches and URLs directly into a browser tab.

This is an approach that makes a large amount of sense in the web 2.0 world. As more and more people use web applications the browser ‘furniture’ is becoming an annoyance that just takes up valuable desktop space. This is especially true on the smaller screen of netbooks, tablets and the like.

Google will have to weigh up this approach though with usability. How obvious will it be / can they make it that people can /should click on the tab title to type searches and addresses? What happens when you have a lot of tabs open at one time?

Thus there are also additional options they are looking at one of which is a one box similar to that now used in Internet Explorer.

You can see their four concepts above. It can reasonably be assumed that the Sidetab concept will probably fail to gain support but the final version could go to either the Classic or Compact views.

It is interesting to note a specific touch version of the browser too with large buttons. This is something that Microsoft won’t be delivering until Windows 8 either in the summer or the autumn of 2012. Google used Chrome to get a significant head start on both Firefox and IE by revolutionizing the browser and including the features that people actually *needed*. By showing what a touch interface could look like now they could solidify this position for the foreseeable future.

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Author: Mike Halsey MVP, Tuesday February 22, 2011 -
Tags:browser, Chrome

Responses so far:

1. Dwight Stegall says:

   February 22, 2011 at 1:46 pm

   I remember many years ago when electronic miniaturizing
   first started. Everyone complained it was too small to be useable. Looks like these people didn’t learn anything from that.

   They’ll end up with total screen real estate like fullscreen mode and then have to come back where we are now to satisfy users.

   So why do it at all if you just have to undo it later?

   Reply
2. Dwight Stegall says:

   February 22, 2011 at 1:53 pm

   If you want no toolbars including addressbar on the screen go to fullscreen mode then press Windows Key+R and type in or paste a full URL. This will open the URL in your default browser. this works in all browsers.

   Reply
3. Kaushik says:

   February 22, 2011 at 3:39 pm

   And what happens when I have 20 tabs open and want to search on the 21st tab? I get a 10mm wide search box. Stupid redesign.

   Reply
4. Password Manager says:

   February 22, 2011 at 5:21 pm

   It is scary how much control Google has over our lives and our internet. Their all powerful approach is why I have stayed away from Chrome.

   Reply
5. Peter says:

   February 22, 2011 at 6:16 pm

   Erm, adressbar in Opera is my searchfield. Just the abbreviation of the wanted searchengine (g google, e ebay, z amazon,…) followed by the keyword(s) brings up my searchresults. …and it seems to worked before IE9 comes out. ;)

   Reply
6. Dotan Cohen says:

   February 22, 2011 at 10:56 pm

   I would definitely use the Sidetab implementation. I currently use Firefox like that with the Tree-Style Tab addon.

   Reply