How to Enable New “Compact Navigation” Feature in Google Chrome? Make Toolbar and Addressbar Auto-Hidden
We all know that Google has released stable version 13 of its web browser Chrome:
[Software Update] Google Chrome 13 Stable Release Now Available for Download
The new version comes with lots of new features like instant page rendering and print preview.
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One new feature which you’ll definitely want to try is “Compact Navigation“. Now you can disable the toolbar and addressbar in Google Chrome to save screen space.
Once you enable this feature, you’ll only see back/forward buttons, wrench icon and tabs in titlebar, nothing else. As soon as you open a new tab, you’ll get the addressbar as a drop-down box below the tab as shown in following screenshot:
You can also forcefully show the addressbar any time using a simple left-click on the tab.
Just follow these simple steps to enable this hidden feature:
1. Type about:flags in addressbar and press Enter.
2. Scroll down and you’ll get an option “Compact Navigation“.
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3. Click on Enable link.
4. Now right-click on tab and select “Hide the toolbar” option.
5. That’s it. It’ll hide the toolbar and addressbar and you’ll have more space on your screen to browse your favorite websites.
It really looks neat in compact navigation mode. Which option do you prefer?
I don’t see this option in Google Chrome version 21
I hope it comes out soon
Doesn’t exist anymore in the latest chrome? March 26 2013
Yes, but how do you get it back? I’ve searched and searched and it doesn’t seem able to show “file, edit, view, tools, help” like all my other windows do, WITH the words, not icons. It also seems very stupid to have the tabs above the address bar. It’s more convenient the other way, and there seems to be no option, like there is in Firefox, to change it back. I also want a bottom information bar like all browsers used to have. If they got rid of that and you can’t enable it, this “browser” is useless to me.
On Google Chrome 29.0.1547.66 I didn’t see this option
I don’t see this option in Google Chrome version 3.6
I wish this still worked. In firefox I had only a tiny tabs bar, and that only if I had multiple taps open. The big ugly bulky chrome has terrible screen real estate, taking a tabs bar, an address bar, a bar for the _ [] X buttons when not fullscreen.
Now that firefox has been updating to be less awesome it takes up nearly 2/3rds as much space as chrome! With that and firefox’s new built in chat garbage I’ve been thinking again of switching to chrome, now that it has extensions for things like FAYT, but the bulkiness and the lack of a real menubar (“file, edit, view, tools, help” like fixitmanarizona mentioned) displaying when you press the alt key make it just too clunky to use.
I have a question about the address bar in google chrome Version 49.0.2623.112 m.
There is no setting that says “Compact Navigation” in this version for some dumb reason.
Would you know of any other setting in this version that would give me access to this setting?
Thank you
Darren