Browser Tips
Secret settings and the best extensions
CHROME
Combine the New Tab and Tab Search buttons
The New Tab button is one of the most important options in any browser. Without it, you’d either need to open every new web page in a new window, or rely on the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T.
In contrast, the Tab Search button, which Chrome tucks away in its top-left corner, is easy to overlook. That’s a shame because it provides a useful way to list all your open and recently closed tabs, as well as search their titles and URLs to find specific web pages.
To address this discrepancy, Google is trying an experiment that combines the New Tab and Tab Search options into a single ‘combo’ button. This means you’re more likely to use Tab Search, but also increases the risk of clicking it accidentally when you want to open a new tab.
The experiment is available in Chrome 132, released on 14 January (so might not be there yet if you’re reading an early subscription copy of this issue). To try it, type chrome://flags into the browser’s address bar and press Enter to load the Experiments page.