Chrome (or browser chrome – not to be confused with Google’s browser, Chrome) refers to the screen real-estate consumed by a computer’s operating system and browser components (menu bars, scroll bars, add-ons, etc.). When combined with the canvas, or the amount of space that is actually available to display a web-page, the full screen is defined. These measurements differ according to operating system, browser, and installed add-ons and come into play when designing for specific monitor resolutions – the chrome must be subtracted from total resolution to ensure that the user will not be faced with truncated or horizontally scrolling pages.
