Chrome 86 hides HTTPS and WWW in the address bar by default

in Chrome 86, which is now in Canary, Google has updated the address bar. The change made it harder to see www and https portions, which are now hidden by default.Google is working on hiding the above elements for quite a long time. The company finds them redundant as most websites are already using Let's Encrypt and other options to provide a secure connection (HTTPS) for the end user.

The www portion is not considered important, as it doesn't tell much to the end user these days.

As spotted by Ghacks, to see the missing parts of the URL, you have to click twice(!) inside the address bar. Then both www and https portions appear.

Here is how it works:

https://winaero.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Chrome-hides-www-and-https_optimized.mp4?_=1

I find this change bad and non-friendly to the user. Personally, I visit a few websites that render DIFFERENTLY with and without WWW. It will be annoying to perform extra clicks to switch between their layouts.

Also, I do not understand what issue exactly Google is solving by hiding the URL portions.

As of now, Google provides a special option to restore the URLS (show the full address) in the address bar. Check out the following:

Always Show Full URL Address in Google Chrome

But there's no guarantee than the search giant won't decide to remove it in the near future.

As of this writing, Google Chrome 86 is in the Canary branch. It won't take long to see the change in the production branch.

A Firefox user? Check out Restore https:// and www in Address Bar in Firefox 75.

Articles of interest

• Enable Live Captions for Video and Audio in Google Chrome
• Disable Chrome Backward and Forward Navigation with Touchpad Scroll
• Google Enables Highlight for Snippet Text On Target Web Page
• Make PWA Running on Startup in Edge or Chrome in Windows 10
• Delete Chrome Address Bar Suggestions with Mouse
• Enable Windows Spellchecker in Google Chrome
• Enable Windows Hello for Payments in Google Chrome
• Enable Profile Picker in Google Chrome
• Enable Tab Groups Collapse in Google Chrome
• Enable WebUI Tab Strip In Google Chrome
• Enable Shared Clipboard In Google Chrome
• Enable Tab Freezing in Google Chrome
• Enable QR Code Generator For Page URL in Google Chrome
• Enable DNS over HTTPS in Chrome (DoH)
• Enable Tab Thumbnail Previews in Google Chrome
• Disable Tab Hover Cards Previews in Google Chrome
• Create Google Chrome Incognito Mode Shortcut
• Force Enable Guest Mode in Google Chrome
• Start Google Chrome Always in Guest Mode
• Enable Color and Theme for New Tab Page in Google Chrome
• Enable Global Media Controls in Google Chrome
• Enable Dark Mode for Any Site In Google Chrome
• Enable Volume Control and Media Key Handling in Google Chrome
• Enable Reader Mode Distill page in Google Chrome
• Remove Individual Autocomplete Suggestions in Google Chrome
• Turn On or Off Query in Omnibox in Google Chrome
• Change New Tab Button Position in Google Chrome
• Disable New Rounded UI in Chrome 69
• Enable Native Titlebar in Google Chrome in Windows 10
• Enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome
• Enable Material Design Refresh in Google Chrome
• Enable Emoji Picker in Google Chrome 68 and above
• Enable Lazy Loading in Google Chrome
• Permanently Mute Site in Google Chrome
• Customize New Tab Page in Google Chrome
• Disable Not Secure Badge for HTTP Web Sites in Google Chrome
• Make Google Chrome Show HTTP and WWW parts of URL

Support us

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options: