Microsoft is working on some additional UI enhancements for its Edge browser on Windows 11, bringing it more in line with the rest of the OS. If you're running the Edge Canary channel on your Windows 11 PC right now, you have the option to use the translucent Mica material as well as rounded tabs. However, these options are currently hidden behind a feature flag, and they were shared by Twitter user FireCube.

Mica is a translucent material that Microsoft introduced with Windows 11, and you can observe it in various parts of the OS, like the Start menu, Settings app, and the menu bar in File Explorer. It allows your desktop background to shine through certain UI elements, creating a more appealing visual experience. In Edge, Mica is applied to the menu bar at the top, including inactive tabs and the favorites bar, if you have it enabled.

If you enable the rounded tabs option, you'll also notice that the active tab in Edge kind of pops out from the tab bar. In the current iteration, the tab is anchored to the menu/address bar below it, but that's not the case with this new design, which is more reminiscent of Mozilla's Firefox browser.

To enable these two changes, you'll need to be running the latest version of Edge Canary - which you can download here - then follow these steps:

  • Enter edge://flags in the address bar
  • Search for an option called Show experimental appearance settings. Change the value to Enabled and restart the browser.
    MIcrosoft Edge experimental appearance flag
  • Once Edge is open again, click the three-dot icon in the top-right corner, then click Settings.
  • Go to the Appearance section on the side menu.
  • Enable the options called Show Windows 11 visual effects in title bar and toolbar (Preview) and Use rounded corners for browser tabs (Preview).
    MIcrosoft Edge appearance settings with new features enabled
  • Restart the browser again and you should have the new look:
    Microsoft Edge with new design for Windows 11

These are admittedly small changes, but for Windows users that appreciate consistency, it's still good news. Microsoft did make some tweaks to Edge in the lead-up to the Windows 11 launch, adding a translucent effect to menus, as well as making them more compact and tweaking the font. With these extra tweaks, the browser should feel even more at home on the OS. General Microsoft Edge users will likely have to wait a while longer for these Windows 11 UI tweaks, but at least we know they're being worked on.

Via: FireCube (Twitter)