Google finally convinced me to customize Chrome with this new feature

Google Chrome has been my default browser for well over a decade now. There have been a few worthy challengers over the years, but every time I consider switching, Google adds a new feature or fixes a bug to keep me on board. The latest instance of this came just this week when Google made it easier than ever to customize the look of Chrome.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Google highlighted a new feature that simplifies customization, which arrived in the latest version of Chrome. If you’re on Chrome 113, open a new tab and look in the bottom-right corner of the screen. You should see the new "Customize Chrome" button. Click it to open a side panel with a variety of customization options.

Most notably, the side panel lets you change the theme of your browser. I’ve been using Classic Chrome (the standard theme) for as long as I can remember, so I checked out what else Google had to offer. There are a bunch of fun, colorful options in there, including cityscapes, seascapes, LGBTQ artists, and a recently-added AAPI artist collection.

I picked the landscapes theme, and then opted to have it refresh daily, so I’ll have a new image to look at when I load up Chrome every day to start working.

The side panel also gives you the option to show or hide shortcuts and cards. Personally, I like having easy access to my most visited sites, but if you prefer a cleaner look to the New Tab page, you might want to turn off shortcuts and cards.

Chrome doesn't always apply the latest updates when you open the browser, so if you want to check and see which version you are running, go to Settings and then About Chrome at the bottom of the menu bar on the left side of the screen.

If you are already running the latest version of the browser, then you are good to go. If not, you should begin the process of updating as soon as possible. Once it finishes downloading, click the Relaunch button to finish updating.

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.