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Google’s Theme Gallery for Chrome has gone live. On the page, you can find 29 official themes that range from subtle (greyscale) to hideously ugly (legal pad). To be able to use them, you'll be needing Google Chrome 3.0 Beta, Google Chrome 3.0 Developer Preview or if you have a recent Chromium build.





Installing a theme isn't a smooth process: you download a .crx file, then Google Chrome loads theme and offers the option to go back to the default theme. You can't preview themes before installing theme and there's no interface for managing themes. The only way to uninstall themes, extensions and to reload themes is by typing chrome://extensions/ in the address bar.


It’s nice to have the option to personalize and skin your browser, but most of these themes are way too distracting. And some, like the “Baseball” theme, make seeing tabs almost impossible.

For now, the gallery only includes themes created by Google, but you'll be able to create your own theme and upload it to the gallery in the near future. Check how you can create a theme for Google Chrome.

Bonus themes. There are two sample themes that aren't included in the gallery: Camo and Snowflakes, one of the best Chrome themes.