How to make Chrome’s Material Design UI smaller

Here's how you can make the new Material Design UI on Chrome look a little smaller to regain some screen real estate to fit more content.

Chrome using smaller UI

Google has overhauled Chrome’s interface with its new Material Design language, which the company has been implementing throughout its apps and services. Although, the new visual design framework aims to make elements look better on a screen, you probably noticed that the interface now takes more real estate on your screen than before.

The issue is that Chrome by default tries to automatically adapt the user interface to better suit the environment. This means that if you’re using a touch-enabled device, such as laptop or tablet, Chrome elements will look bigger, so it’s easier to interact with the browser using touch.

Thankfully, if you want tabs, address bar, and other elements to look smaller, and regain some of the screen real estate to view more content, you can easily change that by adjusting the settings on Chrome.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to quickly make elements look smaller in Google Chrome.

How to make Chrome’s UI smaller on Windows 10

  1. Open Chrome.

  2. On the address bar type Chrome://flags, and press Enter.

  3. Scroll down and find UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome, and from the drop-down menu select Normal.

    UI Layout for the brower's top chrome
    UI Layout for the brower’s top chrome
  4. Click Relaunch Now to apply the settings and complete the task.

That’s all there is to it.

Keep in mind that if you’re looking to disable Material Design, the option is no longer available in Chrome, because company has already moved on from that old design.

What do you think about the new Material Design on Chrome? Tell us in the comments below.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.