Google is experimenting with hiding the full address of websites in Chromes address bar and showing only the domain name.

Even though this new feature has only been tested on the developer version of Chrome and the experimental Chrome version, Canary 85, such a move has drawn flak from some Chrome users. People are concerned about the lack of transparency in not providing a complete web address.

In the full release of Chrome, Google has already removed the ability to display the web address prefixes "www" and "https". However, people have complained that the lack of a full URL in the address makes it harder to spot when someone might be directed to a dodgy web page as part of a phishing cyber attack.

As reported by Search Engine Journal, users will now see the full URL path when they hover over the address bar.

Google stated that the display of the full URL could distract users from the most important part of the web address for security decisions: the domain itself. This seems to be the same concern with Google's plan to remove more URL address details in Canary 85. However, Google has responded by explaining how it is experimenting with Chrome.

"We believe this is an important problem area to investigate, as phishing and other forms of social engineering remain rampant on the Web and many studies show that browsers' current URL display patterns are not an effective defense," a Google developer Chromium's bug tracker explains. Google's developers explain in Chromium's bug tracker:" We are experimenting with this simplified domain display to conduct qualitative and quantitative research to understand if users can more accurately identify malicious websites.

Therefore, this change may not be reflected in the full release version of Chrome. But even if it does, there should be an option to opt out of URL condensation and instead use "Always show full URLs" to display the full address in Chrome's "omnibox" address bar.