Chrome may soon let you double-click a tab to close it for added convenience

Since the dawn of internet browsers, tabs have taken the basic functionality of windows insomuch that you need to click a little “x” at the corner of them to close them. I mean, that’s just the way it is, right? Well, not anymore. Ever since the invention of the iPhone and other devices, press and hold, double tap, and swiping functionality have added to the possibilities for interacting with interfaces whether with a mouse, a finger, or some other input device.

First discovered by Leopeva64 on Twitter and implemented not long ago by Microsoft Chromium Edge, Google Chrome is soon to implement a double-click feature to let you quickly close tabs. This means that you will no longer need to point at the small “x” to the right of each tab to dismiss it!

Introduce double-click to close the tab function

This CL implements the function of double-clicking
to close the tab, and controls the enable or disable
of the function through the flag.

Bug: 1405348

Until this is officially released, there is a quick way to close tabs without focusing on this very small and inconvenient UI element that’s permeated culture. If you tap CTRL + W on your keyboard while Chrome is in focus, the active tab will disappear.

Similarly, restoring a tab you closed, perhaps by mistake, is just as easy. To do this, just press CTRL + T on your keyboard! You may notice a trend here. Any time Microsoft Edge updates to add a new feature, Chrome does so afterward. However, one reason why I choose Chrome over Edge, despite the fact that they’re built on the same technology, is that Chrome is much more thoughtful and methodical in its implementation.

There are Chrome extensions that let you double-click a tab to close it, but with Google officially adding it as a feature out of the box, you’ll be able to run the browser with fewer extensions, which is always better if it can be helped. I imagine the “x” on tabs will stay at least for the foreseeable future while users are trained on this new method of getting rid of browsing sessions.