Not too long ago, Google moved the Chrome bookmarks manager from a separate application window into a tab. Recently, work began on moving Chrome's options menu into a tab as well. While it's still not totally functional, chrome://options has come a long way in a short amount of time.

For the most part, all the UI elements are now active. Certain sub-menus have yet to be activated (like font settings and sync), but I was surprised to see that features like settings import, content settings, and clear browsing data were now live -- just 8 days after tabbed options arrived on the Dev channel.

So why move everything into tabs, anyway? Once Google has everything sorted out and running in-tabs, future changes to Chrome's UI should be easier to implement across different platforms. Since it's Chrome itself rendering things, developers won't have to worry as much about a change looking good on Windows while breaking something on Mac, for example. The switch should also lead to a more consistent experience across Chrome's entire user base (pretty much the opposite of Apple's approach with Safari).

Curious to see tabbed options at work? Check out the video after the break (I recorded Chromium, but you can test in Chrome Dev and Canary as well -- just add --enable-tabbed-options)!

 

Many of you might not even be aware that you have a Google Dashboard -- but it's there, even if you're not using it. In essence, it's a single, centralized location to manage various settings for the myriad of Google services you're signed up for -- Gmail, AdSense, Blogger, Buzz, Picasa Web, YouTube, etc.

When it was unveiled back in November of 2009, I figured it would integrate nicely with Android and Chrome OS -- and a recent change in the Chromium source code has brought that integration one step closer to reality. Currently hidden behind a command line switch is the Privacy Dashboard link, which pops the link in just below your Chromium sync options on the Personal Stuff tab.

Right now the link sends you to google.com, but eventually it will point to google.com/dashboard -- likely once the Chrome options appear on that page. As Google continues to blur the line between native apps and Web apps, the Dashboard will become the Google equivalent of the Windows control panel or Mac System Preferences.

Managing all your online, handheld, and netbook settings on one web page? Sign me up!