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It appears that Google is working to bring virtual desktop functionality from its Chromebook platform to the top-level user interface. This means that users will be able to access multiple virtual desktops with one click. This is based on a recent discovery in Android Police’s Chromium Gerrit.
In summary, the change will put access to virtual desktops directly on the main Chromebook interface screen.
So how do new virtual desktops work on a Chromebook?
As shown in the images below, captured from the source, the way these new virtual desktops will work for Chromebook users, after the update, is simple. In fact, it has never been easier. Although there are still some bugs to be fixed.
For starters, users will see the new virtual desktop UI on their Chromebook from the moment they log in. This will be shown in the upper edge of the display, which is made up of a thin gray bar. Within that bar, which Google calls the “bento bar”, users will see all the virtual desks they have set up. Or at least the labels users have given those. In the example shown below, the labels “AP”, “Design” and “Chickens” have been set.
A click or tap on one of these labels immediately switches to the corresponding virtual desktop.
There will also be a more similar user interface to that seen in the current iterations of virtual desktops in Chrome OS. Accessed via the three-dot overflow menu on the right side of the bento bar, users can expand the strip to show thumbnails of their open virtual desks. And another option is available to hide the strip entirely.
These won’t necessarily come anytime soon
Now, the bento bar is not yet available. It’s not even on Chrome OS Canary Channel. And it’s not even shown as an experimental flag feature yet. So it probably won’t come anytime in the near future. If it appears in the stable channel.
That said, the feature appears to be far enough away that Google probably won’t abandon it. And even Google’s focus on switching Chrome OS business updates – where this will likely prove most useful – to a longer update cycle could play into that as well. So if and when it arrives, it will undoubtedly be with a big update. This is as opposed to a more standard monthly update.
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