What you need to know
- Google is adding new features to Custom Tabs to improve usability.
- Partial custom tabs allow developers to set tab heights that are easily adjustable by the user.
- When I use it in my app, the tab now says “Running in Chrome”.
Google is giving app developers new tools to make navigating web pages easier. This is what Custom Tabs is all about, and the latest update gives developers and users more control over the experience.
Google announced this week that it’s launching Partial Custom Tabs as an extension of the Custom Tabs experience. Custom tabs are used by non-browser apps to display web pages, including login screens and articles. This eliminates the need to exit the app to open the link.
These are normally displayed in full screen, but the new Partial Custom Tabs allow developers to adjust the height of tabs that open in an app, opening tabs in a split-screen-like view.
The idea is to make it easier for the user to interact with the app and the tabs, while also giving them the freedom to adjust the tabs to fill the entire screen or drag them down to close them when finished.
According to Google, partial custom tabs are available in “a small number of browsers,” including Chrome of course, so users can take advantage of the feature if their default browser supports it. If not, you’ll get fullscreen custom tabs, but Google seems determined to have an additional browser “soon.”
Additionally, the company says Chrome users will be better able to identify that the page they are viewing is a web page. That’s thanks to the new “running in Chrome” header that appears at the top of the tab. Google explains that this is so that users know they can “use some of their most beloved Chrome features like Saved Passwords and AutoFill.”
