I prefer Google Chrome to the standard Safari browser on my Mac OS X system, but I’m bored with the default appearance. Can I change the theme?
There’s a whole world of theme development and hundreds of different Google Chrome themes available, actually, so you’re in great shape. If you want Disney Princesses, dark, violent video game imagery or just a shiny new sports car as your empty page graphic and tab scheme, you’ve got options. Heck, if you just want a brushed metal look like the good old days of Mac OS X you can do that too: in fact that’s what I have!
To get started, easiest step is to click on “Preferences” from the “Chrome” menu on your Mac. Or, if you prefer, go here: chrome://settings/ [disclaimer: I have no idea what that link will do in other browsers]
Under “Settings” scroll down just a little bit until you find “Appearance”:
If you’ve somehow changed your theme, you can easily click on “Reset to default theme” to get back to the boring old greyscale, as demonstrated in that image. Look particularly at the tabs and the colors up there.
To get a new theme, click on — surprise! — “Get themes”.
You’ll be taken to the Google Play Store. Sometimes you have to find and click on “Themes” but it should work ok most of the time. You’ll see this:
These are pretty cool, particularly the Ecko theme, but scroll down, look and see what else is in the gallery.
Once you find a theme that you like, it’ll look like this:
but move your cursor over the tile and a button appears:
Free is good. Click on it and it’ll download — pretty darn fast! — and install. Sometimes it’s hard to notice the change.
But suddenly things look different:
In particular compare the tabs to those of the default grey theme. Much more interesting!
If you look closely you’ll also see that there’s a status bar update just below the address bar, one that lets you click “Undo” to change your mind:
Before you decide to bail on this particular theme, however, always open a new tab to see what the blank screen looks like. This is where a lot of theme designers seem to put their primary effort and they can be spectacular:
Way, way more interesting than a blank image, yes?
There are so many good ones, I just play around and change it rather capriciously!