Chrome users mad at Google for switching up scroll controls
A flurry of Windows users report near impossible Web navigation as thin scroll bars with no vertical arrows have appeared -- but it seems Google didn't make this change deliberately.
Several Google Chrome forum boards are lighting up with complaints about scroll bar changes. Apparently, people running Windows, and possibly other operating systems, have seen their scroll bars slim down and drop vertical scrolling arrows -- making Web navigation difficult.
"When I got on today I noticed that the scrollbar has changed from one with little boxes with arrows on each end you can click to one that you have to drag," forum contributor Bethany Rice wrote last week. "I was just wondering if its possible to switch back to the other one because this one is driving me crazy."
Dozens of other people have echoed Rice's sentiments. Some have even threatened to stop using Chrome and switch to Firefox or Explorer.
"I have spent an entire day thinking it was my computer, even gone to the point of reinstalling windows only to find out its something to do with Google," a commenter wrote on another forum. "Why can you guys never tell us give us a warning or something its almost impossible to control my computer without the up and down buttons."
The complaints started rolling in immediately after Google released its Beta Channel update for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome Frame last week. The update was intended to fix crashes and other bugs but appears to have possibly affected the scrolling for some users.
It's unclear which operating systems and hardware have been hit with the problem, but many people posting complaints appear to be Windows 7 users.
A Chrome forum moderator that goes by Sarjoor wrote that the problem is a "known UI issue" that developers are working on. They are especially looking into "why the ChromeOS style is being applied to Windows," he wrote. Sarjoor suggested using an extension like Rescroller as a temporary workaround to the problem.
Google issued another update to Chrome on Tuesday but it didn't appear to fix the scrolling problem.
CNET contacted Google for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.