Somewhere between Chrome 25 (beta) and Chrome 26 (dev), the browser's menu got bigger. It's now optimized for touch interfaces even if you're using a non-touch computer. I've checked the height of the menu and it's now 580 pixels, instead of 420 pixels. That's a 38% increase and it makes the interface more difficult to use for mouse users.
When you use Chrome's sync feature, the menu's height becomes 625 pixels. Here's how a recent Chromium build looks on my 1280x800 laptop and remember that most laptops sold right now have a 1366x768 resolution:
Chrome also changed the contextual menu:
This is not the case on my Linux Mint machine. Likely a Windows-specific change in accordance with Windows 8 moving to touch-optimized interfaces?
ReplyDeleteAll the screenshots are from Windows 7, not Windows 8.
DeleteAre you using Chrome or Chromium? That may also be a difference.
DeleteThere is a command line flag under chrome://flags where you can disable the touch optimized interface if that's really the problem you have. Normally it should be disabled for Windows 7.
DeleteI tried that, but no flag changes the menus.
Deletealso tried, but no help
Deletewouldn't mind if i was running Win8, but on 7 im going back and forward from normal context menus to the this, and its really pissing me off.
even worse is that my other computers and laptop (running the same version of chrome) dont do it!
Make this insanity stop!!! Touch Screen UI is terrible with non TouchScreens.. Windows 8 is hated for this, dont make the same mistake!
ReplyDeleteLooks nice, but takes up too much space, especially on desktops.
ReplyDeleteBy the looks of it I'm in the minority that actually likes it.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteFor me it seems equal.
DeleteAFAIK, this change has nothing (or only tangentially) to do with optimization for touchscreens. The Chromium team is (AFAIK for technical reasons) moving away from native Win32 widgets to custom widgets. It is only logical that these look like Google's corresponding Web widgets, with large margins for better readability (we remember the big redesign when Larry Page became CEO again).
ReplyDeleteIf the main menu becomes too long because of the new style, I guess Google's solution will be to tidy up the menu items.
Maybe an indicator for Chromebook Pixel?
ReplyDeleteChromium does not feature this change in v26. Still the same size for me on Win7. I am a bit behind though, maybe if I updated to the current version it would show this.
ReplyDeleteWhat Jack said... Chromebook Pixel...
ReplyDeleteUp your pointer speed if your mouse is too slow. +1 for this change.
ReplyDeleteDesaturate all the things.
ReplyDeleteThis is annoying.
ReplyDeleteJust notice it now. it is so awful and your mouse travel so much more.
ReplyDeleteRunning version 26.0.1410.12 beta-m
How do we undo this annoying size change. I have bookmark menus that no longer fit on my laptop screen.
ReplyDelete