Microsoft brought good news for users of the Edge browser at Build 2023, as the company announced a new design for the browser that includes the popular Mica material, rounded tabs, content containers, improved animations, and many other visual changes.
Microsoft said the updated design was inspired by user feedback and the company’s desire to create a beautiful, easy-to-use browsing experience. As a result, Microsoft Edge now features the Mica material on its toolbar, tab bar, sidebar and other parts.
In addition, the company has introduced rounded corners for tabs that are separate from the address bar, making the toolbar, address bar, and tab bar more clearly distinguishable from each other. Finally, the profile button has been placed in a new location — the top left corner — to give users easier access to controls and settings related to their profile.
New Edge browser is not just a visual change, Microsoft has also brought new features to the Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) powered by the Edge browser. PWAs released in the Microsoft Store will support the Payment Request API, allowing to query digital product details, view existing purchases, check purchase history and handle the payment process between the Microsoft Store and the user. In addition, Microsoft is making it easier for developers to optimize their progressive web apps to fit the Edge browser’s sidebar. According to the company, it only takes a few lines of code to get a PWA to work in Edge’s sidebar.
