Microsoft Edge Insider will use Fluent Design for form controls (and you can enable it today)

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Published onApril 11, 2019

published onApril 11, 2019

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Microsoft has now released the first public builds of its Chromium-based Edge browser remake. Although this early preview doesn’t deviate too far from Chromium’s default design, there’s evidence that Microsoft is planning to further differentiate the look and feel of its implementation.

Buried inEdge Insider’s flags menuis a “Fluent Controls” option. Per its label,

If enabled, form elements will be rendered using an alternative style to align with Microsoft’s design language to improve touch and keyboard accessibility.

Evidently, Microsoft is planning to bring its Fluent Design language into the browser, making forms in Edge look more like their counterparts in Universal Windows apps. Currently, Edge Insider uses Chromium’s built-in, silver-tinted controls (pictured below) for all form components.

You canenable the flag today(it’s called “Fluent Controls”) to get a first look at the Fluent-themed inputs. However, we wouldn’t recommend it, as it seems the implementation is far from finished. Only a handful of controls are changed by enabling the flag, with most retaining Chromium’s built-in styles.

Those that do change (pictured above) still look nothing like Fluent Design’s Windows controls. Overall, the flag tends to make things look broken, with select boxes in particular gaining an odd silver background colour.

None of this can be criticised at this stage – Edge Insider is still a long way off release, and it’s clear the implementation of Fluent Design within Chromium has only just begun. This flag will be one to watch in the next Edge Dev builds, as Microsoft begins to bring Chromium into visual parity with EdgeHTML.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

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Radu Tyrsina

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Microsoft Edge Insider will use Fluent Design for form controls (and you can enable it today)