If someone asked me how to change it, I’d say that I want not that stupid grid, but a surface with smaller (but varying) tiles organized into groups (which are bookmark folders). E.g. the top row for services I use often with medium icons and titles below them. Below that, to the left, a column of non-tall (hierarchical) rows with links to various documentation (~15 of them which right now live in a folder on a bookmarks bar), like node fs, express {index, {request, response}}, bulma {index, {buttons, forms}}. Small icon and text to the right, offset for subitems, you get the idea. To the right of that a column of address box and various search boxes for npm, google, images, wiki, etc. No need for the address bar at the top, just focus on it in the tab area and allow to <tab> my way to other searches. Below that: few other categories like “attic”, “work”, “to read”, also placed/layouted by myself (but not with css, give me easy structure and mouse-way to do it). I actually want this in file explorers too. These grid/table interfaces are nice for a naive user, but are stupid as hell for those who want to organize their “start area”.
Thanks again - the idea to "<tab> my way to other searches" is inspiring. I'll give it a thought.
It's amazing to me how many iterations these pages may need before they become reliably useful. The tech is all over the place, from boilerplate html to LOffice and other exports to simple experiments that turned into a layout somehow.
I used a start page extension for my browser for a while, some years ago. I think it would have been smart for the dev to build in customizable export tools. I likely would have kept the one I liked, and then returned to the software more often for tweaks. But in a lot of cases I end up using different browsers or disabling extensions, so the tool itself isn't able to persist.
Good luck with your project, I hope it goes well.
I like the bookmarks style new tab page in iOS.
> Do you use any URL as a start page?
Tabs from previous session, with no additional start page.