Google Is Testing Out A Sidebar Feature To Be Added To Its Chrome Browser

Following in Edge’s footsteps, Google is working on adding a sidebar search to the Chrome browser.

Starting any sentence about Google Chrome with the words “following in Edge’s footsteps” is at least a little bit funny to me, since the current version of the said browser is built entirely upon Chromium. However, to be fair, that doesn’t mean that they can’t have a better idea before Google. The tech giant has a near-monopoly on the browser marketplace, they can afford to forget about fresh updates and just let things slide now and then. To be honest, Chrome already has a sidebar-Esque feature on its repertoire; it’s just not as convenient. But to delve into that, we need to first understand what the sidebar search even is.

Sidebar search refers to a feature via which an individual can highlight text in any online article, right-click, and scroll through relevant search results on the right-hand side of that very page. It opens up the default browser as a sidebar, thus the name. Google Chrome, and every browser out there probably, has a similar ability via which right-clicking on highlighted text will give users the option to display relevant search results, but in a separate tab. Having these pop up in the same browser tab, and granting users the ability to scroll through relevant results is just much easier and more convenient for the community at large.

So, how do we know that Google’s working on incorporating this feature into Chrome? Same as we do for every feature in development for the browser: taking a look at Canary. Canary is essentially a test-site version of Chrome via which devs can test out new features before publishing them in the actual mainstream browser, and users can just mess around with unreleased material. A new flag has been introduced to Canary via which users can activate sidebar searches on the platform. It must be noted that not all users can do so, with the feature being doled out to selective users, apparently at random. However, individuals can rest assured that the feature does exist, is being worked on, and will probably show up in a future build of Google Chrome proper.

H/T: Leopeva64

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World