This is by design spec.

--> UserFeedback.

The blank space is orthogonal; we left that to make window dragging easier.

Thanks!
1) "This is by design spec." - then I'd like to disagree with that design :) Can we revisit?

2) "make window dragging easier" - hmm... did not realize this was a problem?

Overall this change reminds me of https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=403619.... are multiple profiles so rarely used feature that usability for it counts less?

I think we'd question the assertion that this is "harder to spot when switching browser windows".

The window dragging issue really is orthogonal to the question of where the profile switcher goes, so I'd like to avoid debating that.

No, usability for this doesn't count less, but I'd like to understand better why this is seen to be strictly less usable.

Here's how it looks on retina macbook when switching application windows between two chrome profiles - you can barely tell the icons apart.

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It seems like your issue is with the size of the icon rather than its position.  Is that correct?

Probably the workaround is to choose profile pictures that are significantly different from one another?

@pkasting@chromium.org - you are right, I clobbered the size change with move.

If the issue is really the size of the profile icon, there are several potential things we could do:

* Make that bigger (maybe)
* Change the cropping (maybe)
* Adjust the default profile images so the icons we show in the toolbar are as visually distinct as possible, primarily by recropping them, perhaps also by tweaking for the different size

It seems like there might already be a bug on this but I'm not sure.

Alan, can we do the third bullet above at the very least?  The other two bullets are for your consideration.

 Issue 883865  has been merged into this issue.

From merged  issue 883865 :

Steps to reproduce the problem:
1. Open new browser window
2. View content at top right corner of window
3. Note that user profile ID is not displayed

What is the expected behavior?
In versions 68 and prior, the user profile ID is displayed at the top right corner of window

What went wrong?
Starting with version 69, the user profile ID is no longer displayed at the top right corner of window. Instead, the profile image is shown, slightly lower down. Thus it is now no longer possible to know at a glance which profile a window is associated with, since many/most users' profiles will share a common image. This presents a significant usability and security challenge for users, especially those who juggle windows between multiple profiles.

As a workaround, user can set the flag "UI Layout for the browser's top chrome" to Normal, but then user seems to lose v69 UI redesign elements. Also, it is unclear whether this workaround will function across future updates.

Not sure I agree that "many/most users' profiles will share a common image" -- sharing a common name is, if anything, more common than a common image.  But I don't think that falsifies that we need some improvement here.

I don't think the avatar switcher is as important as either the new-tab button or the close/minimize caption buttons, so I think reducing noise in that area is still the right thing.

FWIW I agree with Peter's 3), to make the default icons fill this space better. Preferably not all on a grey background as the background color is a clear visual distinguisher.

Tangentally: I also think we could do with a new set of profile icons, these don't look very fresh imo. (ChromeOS has replaced theirs, I'm not sure if we can straight-up adopt them.)

 Issue 889989  has been merged into this issue.

Unfortunately the "UI Layout for the browser's top chrome" workaround no longer works as of v71.  :-(

There are multiple threads in the support forums from users who make the case that there should be an option to show the profile name.  I agree with them.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/16N6TtwbCmk
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/AQst3otmCWk
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/ejX3Gxq6ThQ

Re #12: I think it would be a good thing if we enforced that all non-gaia profile images are distinct.

FWIW here's an unpolished version of usernames in avatar toolbar button. It's unclear what we'd do with the error/warning states, perhaps they would take precedence and not show pbos@google.com instead of warning. This does for sure clutter the toolbar though.

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Re #16, the design in that screenshot would be very welcome, and the clutter of including usernames (optionally?) next to the avatar is significantly better than the current state in which it is close to impossible to know what profile is active. For many (myself included, but see discussions linked in #15), the avatar icon is an insufficient indicator of the current profile. 

as one of the users that uses multiple profiles that sync to the same account, thus the icon is the same, I would gladly give up the icon and replace it with the text of the profile name. I would even settle for a circle with the profile's first letter. Just give us an option instead of trying to force everyone into your design that is hindering productivity.

Currently I have to bring focus to a window, wait on a hover timeout or click the profile icon to figure out which window I've currently have active. More than once I've used the wrong window which is becoming a security issue.

FYI this issue is getting a lot of discussion in the user forums. The users hate the change. 

There has been a lot of reliance on the text being visible on the title bar. The removal of this has not gone down well with the end user. 

View this discussions here ... https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/d/msgid/chrome/27faa5b3-71f6-4f02-920e-872ba7393043%40googleproductforums.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer

Please considering adding the profile name (i.e. text) back to the top-right corner of a window.  I consider this a usability and security issue - using the wrong profile can lead to bad infosec consequences.

If using multiple profiles is a required but not common use case, please do this when actively using multiple profiles.

Please do not replace the text with an icon; I'm not sure what the point of doing that is.

Many Thanks!

Armen

I agree with folks on the forums. Why is a random "icon" better than allowing a profile name? If it was even easily visible (which it is not) one has to remember what avatar is for which profile. Just let us see the profile name already.

For the maintainers:
There are three separate issues here being discussed.

1. Moving the person avatar image to a different location as discussed in this bugs' description.
2. Adding the profile text (name) to the profile indicator alongside the avatar image. For this, I just opened #915720. I know #883865 was merged in to this issue and closed, but I think that issue and the above issue are distinct. One is simply the location of the avatar image, the other is the difficulty in distinguishing between person / people windows.
3. A regressive fix which would bring back the workaround as discussed here: https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chrome/16N6TtwbCmk/AUQ04wszBQAJ

    "...go to Address bar and visit: chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md and set It's value to 'Normal' ..."

I didn't open a bug for this, but perhaps there should be one.


Cheers!

I think moving the avatar (1) is not going to play well with how this design is currently evolving. I think we should address this part by updating the default profile icons and making sure they have distinct backgrounds to make them are easier to tell apart. Updating bug title.

FWIW I think 2. is the cause of regression here (I don't think the avatar images have ever been distinct?). I added my screenshot to issue 915720 and think discussions re/ showing text should move there.

3. is never a supported answer. We don't support multiple layouts. chrome://flags are apart from a few exceptions very temporary, not intended for users to use (though folks find them and post on reddit etc). This part of the code has been cleaned up and #top-chrome-md is no longer a flag at least on Dev.

This has been conflated from multiple issues, but to distinguish between multiple windows, use different profile pictures. If you pick the different-colored heads they should at least be more distinct than dog vs sandwich: chrome://settings/manageProfile

FWIW re #18, we couldn't create new profiles and have them sync to the same account on Canary. Chrome just asks you to sync somewhere else. I wonder if this is a bad state from a previous setup.

I am an engineer with low vision, and the removal of the TEXTUAL identifications of which browser I'm working on is a SIGNIFICANT impedance to my productivity. Using different colored icons is a TERRIBLE suggestion. Chrome has been my go-to browser for many years, but this design change is significantly impacting my productivity. 

-Disappointed :/

Furthermore, the suggestion of using "different color heads" as a means to distinguish different browser profiles is also a terrible suggestion from a user-experience stance... "is the purple head my DEV or STAGING environment?? crap..." This is just a usability / cognitive dissonance concept from a non-low-vision stance. Now, imagine those of use who have low vision trying to distinguish between purple and blue heads?  

:|

This was Chrome's best feature and the most important one Edge is lacking. 

I mean, who is using a browser without profiles, switching and logging in and out of services all the time? In 2018???

I have alone six different profiles sitting and pinned in my Taskbar and switch between them easily with <Windows> + <Number>. Still, it would be also nice to have the names of the profile visible and not just the avatar. I have in total 15 profiles and they share 15x the same avatar pic and it wouldn't help if I had 15 unqiue ones. Tbh, I don't need avatars, I don't care about them, they are useless, childish and make no sense whatever, why does my browser profile needs a pic, just give me profile names somewhere and trash avatar pics. 'Social' was last decade. 

Protip: Even better than manually setup profile names would be auto generating the profile name from login-credentials. E.g. I create a new Chrome profile and the first (or last) service I logged in, let's say Yandex Mail or my company account, creates the profile name which later can be changed (myname@yandex.com or myname@companyabc.com).

Btw, your suggested fix is not working because you removed the 'Normal' view. Btw, I also reported this via the Help menu. 

I couldn't agree more with Desmond. What is the obsession with the Avatars anyway, and clearly since this was easy to add back in with a flag, why is there so much push back from the developers about allowing text? I would GLADLY give up the useless avatar for simple text. I am the one using the profile. I don't need a picture of myself or an avatar representing me to know who I am, or remind me of a character I wish I was. I understand the avatar is used in other things (like chat), and that is only mildly interesting, but I bet if you polled google users, if it's more important to have text on a profile or a minuscule picture on gmail or chats, they would pick the text on a profile 5 to 1.

"Normal" was never a supported workaround, it was around until we switched to the UI and cleaned up old code. Virtually nothing in chrome://flags should be seen as stable. They are not supported user options.

Re workarounds: I'd suggest using themes to make your profiles *more distinct* than the text string ever could. Have a dark theme on your work context and your personal context be rainbows. There are more powerful remedies for making profiles more distinct that are not constrained to the avatar space.

This bug is becoming a centithread. The text suggestion is tracked in a different bug so I'm restricting comments for this one.