[U] Chrome’s three dots “more” menu is set to receive easily identifiable icons for accessibility

Update April 6, 2023 at 2:56 PM EST: The actual commit responsible for the icons is as follows. Thanks, Leopeva64!

[CR2023] Add and insert new icons for 3-dot menu.

Chromium Gerrit

A new set of icons appearing in Chrome’s three dots “more” options overflow menu looks to be on its way in a future update. These easily identifiable symbols will be aligned to the left of each menu item (or at least most of them), making it much faster and simpler to select the option you want without having to read everything.

While you may be familiar with each item on the fly, the psychology of navigating a menu with loads of options as a new user is quite different. Also do keep in mind that this may assist users with visual impairments from an accessibility standpoint, and that’s obviously a win.

Chrome's 3-dot menu now has icons (Canary), this is part of Chrome's 2023 refresh: pic.twitter.com/dlte8A91D8

— Leopeva64 (@Leopeva64) April 1, 2023

Though not yet available in the stable release of Chrome they are showing up in Canary – a version of the browser that’s used for testing new features and updates before they’re released to the public. These sleek, new icons were first spotted by Leopeva64 on Twitter (see above), who shared a screenshot showing them off.

In fact, this may be a part of the super secret 2023 Chrome refresh that we’ve been talking a lot about recently. While it’s currently unknown whether other menus across the browser will also feature similar icons for distinguishability, it’s clear that Google is committed to making Chrome more user-friendly and accessible.

[Chrome Refresh 23] Upload new icons for toolbar

Chromium Gerrit

It’s possible that this Chromium Gerrit code could be referring to these icons, but they may also indicate a larger set of toolbar icons for the top of the browser for the same purposes. Whether you love it or hate it, I repeat that this update is a step in the right direction for accessibility and usability for everyone. Obviously, we don’t want the browser to feel like a Fisher-Price toy, so there’s a balance to strike between “Googley” and professional. Still, this 2023 refresh and redesign is proving to be pretty exciting, and I’m curious as to what Google will add next!