Summary
- Chrome maintains dominance through constant innovation on Android and desktop, even taking inspiration from Edge for improvement.
- Upcoming changes in Chrome will allow users to pin as many as 19 buttons to the toolbar for easy access to important tools, surpassing Edge.
- Implementation of the new feature may take a few months, but will provide users with more customization options and boost Chrome’s utility.
Google Chrome is one of the best web browsers in the world, and rivals like Microsoft had to reach deep in their bag of tricks to deter users from abandoning Edge browser bundled with Windows by default. However, Chrome maintains a dominant lead because it is constantly innovating on Android and even its matured desktop client just keeps getting better. However, an upcoming change reveals Google isn’t afraid to take inspiration from Edge in this quest for improvement.
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Typically, Chrome for desktops doesn’t allow users to pin and unpin buttons flanking the address bar, also known as the Omnibox. You can pick and choose the pinned extensions you frequent, but browser controls are perpetually fixed in the toolbar.
Meanwhile, Edge allows users to unpin redundant controls like the Forward button beside Reload. Now, seasoned browser researcher and Android Police reader @Leopeva64 on X (formerly Twitter) found Chromium source code revealing a long list of buttons users should soon be able to pin to the Chrome toolbar soon.
Ready access to important tools
While the option to unpin the Forward button makes it to the list, the feature spotter notes there are 19 buttons in total which you would be allowed to pin, and even Edge doesn’t allow you to toy with so many options. Here’s the full list of functions spotted in the Gerrit:
- kShowBookmarks
- kShowHistoryCluster
- kShowReadAnything
- kShowReadingList
- kShowSideSearch
- kHome
- kForward
- kNewIncognitoWindow
- kShowPasswordManager
- kShowPayment Methods
- kShowAddresses
- kShowDownloads
- kClearBrowsingData
- kPrint
- kShowTranslate
- kSendTabToSelf
- kQrCodeGenerator
- kRouteMedia
- kTask Manager
- kDevTools
- kShowChromeLabs
However, it is unlikely users will be getting access to this change anytime soon. It could take a few months for this change to show up in the Canary versions of the browser, and even that isn’t an assurance it will make it to the stable version. Given its utility and the leg-up Chrome will get on Edge, we hope the implementation will come sooner rather than later.
