Google is working on bringing a tab mute button to its browser, similar to how Microsoft Edge allows its users to disable the sound on a web page by clicking a speaker button on the tab strip. Currently, the mute button is available behind an experimental flag in the Canary channel, which is off by default. Google wants to improve feature discoverability in Chrome by adding a special banner. It will let users know that they can mute a tab with a single click.
The idea behind the feature is very simple. Many users may not know that clicking a speaker icon on a tab disables the audio. A small blue banner will show that the audio indicator also works as a mute button.
It is worth mentioning that Google Chrome already has a dedicated mute button for open web pages. The browser comes with global media controls that include play/pause, forward/backward, PiP, and mute buttons. Soon, Google will conduct a limited test to see how users prefer to disable the sound on web pages. That test will decide the future of the mute button on the tab strip.
The flag to enable the mute button is currently available in the Canary channel, but Google plans to trial the button among 1% of the Stable channel users.
Google recently released Chrome 98 in the Stable channel with 27 security fixes and patches. Besides, the update brought a new font color format. The Mobile version of Google Chrome, on the other hand, will soon get a warning message that pops on the screen when the user tries to close all tabs.
Thanks to Leopeva64.
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Chrome implemented this feature years ago – actually as a first browser. Then they deactivated it and continued with the global media control.