How to Add New Themes to Google Chrome

Matthew October 2, 2021

You can add new themes that adjust background images and color schemes to most browsers. Google Chrome is a browser that has plethora of themes available on websites. Alternatively, you can also add your own custom themes to Chrome with a few apps.

One thing to note about Google Chrome is that its themes aren’t as flexible as those in Firefox. Firefox saves themes added to it so that you can switch between them. When you add a theme to Chrome, it overwrites the previous one. Nor does Chrome have so many extensions to customize the themes with.

Adding themes to Chrome can potentially slow down your browser, but if you take some time to speed up Chrome on your PC, you can install themes without having to worry about browser slowdown.

Adding Themes to Chrome

You can select from a wide variety of Chrome themes by opening this page.
Then, click a theme thumbnail and press the ADD TO CHROME button.

The theme adjusts the color scheme of the tab bar and address bar. Furthermore, it adds a new background image to the New Tab. Note that when you first add a theme, you can always press the Undo button on that appears under the address bar to revert back to the original.

Google theme2

Add Your Own Custom Theme With My Chrome Theme

To set up a custom Google Chrome theme that includes your own photos, you can add a few apps to the browser. One of those is My Chrome Theme.

Click the + Free button on its page to add it to the browser, and then open it by pressing the Show apps button on the bookmarks bar. Select My Chrome Theme from there to open it as below.
Now press the START MAKING THE THEME button to open the first step of the wizard as shown below.
Now, you can select a background picture to add to the theme by pressing the Upload Image button. When you select an image, it opens a preview of it as in the snapshot below. You can switch between Design Mode and Preview Mode that includes apps on it.
Press the Adjust position option to alter the position of the picture. That opens a small menu from which you can select Fit to Screen, Fill Screen and Tile Image options. Select Fill Screen and Center to fit most of the image on the New Tab page.
You can also select an Image Effects option to further edit the background picture. That opens a window with additional editing options, such as BLACK AND WHITE, SEPIA, BOLDER, and INVERTED. Select an option there and press Done to apply the editing.
Press Continue to Step 2 to edit the color scheme of the theme. Then you can customize the colors of the tab bar, active and background tabs by clicking the brush icons as in the shot below. Select a color from the palette to add it to theme. Alternatively, you could press the I’m Feeling Lucky option to quickly set up a color scheme that matches the image.
Press Continue to Step 3 to finish the theme. Now enter a title for it in the text box, and press the Make my theme button to create the theme. Press the INSTALL THEME BUTTON to add it to the browser. Note that the themes you set up are saved on the first page of the app as thumbnails.

Add Your Own Custom Theme to Chrome Without an App

You don’t need an app to add a custom theme to Google Chrome. You could instead set up a new theme for the browser from the ThemeBeta website. This is a sites that includes a variety of options to set up a customized theme with. Click here to open the page in the snapshot below.

Now, press the Upload an Image button there to select a background picture for the theme. Note that it should be a JPG or PNG file format. That will add the selected photo to the theme preview.
Below the theme’s preview there are a few background image options. You can select left, right and center alignment options from one of the drop-down lists there. Select the fill screen option to fit the full picture in the background.
You can also add alternative images to the browser frame and toolbar. Click the Images tab to open the options in the shot below. Press the Choose Image buttons beside Frame and Toolbar to add background pictures to them.
Press the Generate Colors option to quickly add matching colors to the theme. Alternatively, click the Colors tab to select them yourself. The Colors tab includes options to customize the text, button and status bar colors. Click the color squares beside the options to open their palettes. Then you can choose colors from the palettes.
When you’ve finished the theme, press the Pack and Install button. That will then add the theme to the browser. If you’re logged in with a Google account, you can save the theme by pressing the Save Online button. Then you can reopen the theme later by selecting the Load And Edit Your Theme option.

ThemeBeta also has an extensive directory of themes for you to add to Chrome. Press the Find More Themes button to open the page shown below. That includes a variety of theme categories, and you can add a theme to your browser by clicking its thumbnail and pressing the Apply theme button.

There are also a few other websites you can set up a custom Chrome theme from. Among them is ChromeThemeMaker.com. That site also includes a number of customization options for the colors and images of the theme. The Google Chromizer site is a basic theme editor with which you can set up a theme with image. However, aside from that it doesn’t have any other options.

Custom Themes with Chrome

With the sites and apps mentioned above, you can now add either custom or premade themes to Google Chrome. Themes are great for customizing the browser and can also help increase readability. To add customized themes to Firefox, check out this TechJunkie guide.