flowtide.app
Flowtide is a project I have been working on for about 2 months now. It is a customizable new tab page for Firefox or Chrome. By default, it is configured to have a minimal amount of features, but it can be configured to include a clock, to-do list, or even soundscapes.
Install: https://flowtide.app/ GitHub: https://github.com/thingbomb/flowtide
The first question that pops into my head (being aware that this is a popular category of apps) is: when do people look at blank tabs? Whenever I open a new tab, it's with the intention of entering an address or a search term, and any content would be an unwelcome distraction.
I'd be more likely to use something like this if it lived under a regular domain name and I could put it into a pinned tab, personally.
That describes ChromeOS users of course, but there are Apple and Windows (and presumably Linux) users who have the same workflow.
RDP does exist of course as well as something like Guacamole so one is not limited to only terminals or web IDEs
Other than that, yeah, I usually CTRL+T and write right away.
My "startpage" is a four-column list of stuff I usually browse. And usually I sit with my left hand at the left hand side of the keyboard, and with my hand on the mouse on the right. Doing CTRL+T then clicking on where I wanna go, is usually faster and less movements needed than having to manually type the one or two first letters.
I tried sometimes to put "widgets" or other things (like widget on a smartphone) but it's true what you say, it's an unwelcome distraction. But a couple of simple lists seems fine, for me.
Besides that, I don't use or care about anything on the "new tab" tab. Backgrounds, sounds, weather, news - that's all junk/noise to me. There seems to be no value for me in having them on the empty tab, when they're a click (or, in case of the weather, a glance on my phone or watch) away.
Just how it works for me, of course. Other's mileage may vary.
Sometimes I'll open a new tab and click the site I want from my commonly used sites Firefox presents to me on the new tab page. In such cases my hand is already on the mouse and two clicks is about the quickest I can get to one of those sites.
I can immediately redirect to any with 0-9 and still have quick access to the address bar via ctrl+k
Aaaaand it actually does show the new tab page.
After hitting Ctrl+L, I usually do one of these: 1) "Enter" to discard current page; 2) "Alt+Enter" to open in new tab; 3) "Ctrl+Enter" to open in new tab but keep focus on current page (e.g. read later); and 4) "Esc" if I got an answer from the address bar (math, currency, history, already open page, etc).
My own experience is that all of the times I press Ctrl+T is to open a new tab to enter a location I want to navigate to; I don't care much for what the new tab displays (this is why I set my default new tab to a blank page), and if I did, it would probably be a distraction.
> What I'm doing instead: in current tab hit Cmd+L to focus on address bar, type query/address hit Option+Enter to open resulted page in a new tab.
Personally I do know the hotkeys and I know that Alt+Enter opens the url in a new tab, but I never use the second one. That's why I was asking.
Ctrl-T opens a new tab page, <tab> highlights the search bar, and then I get instantaneous search over open tabs, bookmarks, and history. Everything stays 100% local.
[1] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tabby-cat/mefhakmgc...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabagotchi-ne...
- I have a decent amount of bookmarks and bookmark folders, toggling on the bookmarks makes the new tab overwhelmed and other things don't show. Would be nice to just pin a few.
- The to do list is hard to see on some background combinations (e.g. black text over dark green trees)
- I like the command palette idea, but would be nice to be able to add my own (https://github.com/thingbomb/flowtide/blob/main/src/componen...)
I don't really get why this isn't just a setting, but ah well. There are some extensions that do this out there, but I found all behaved wonky. I'm not sure if they're "doing it wrong" or because I have it easier as I don't need any settings and can just load a static HTML file. I'm not an expert on any of this.
For those interested, in manifest.json I have:
{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "newtab",
"description": "newtab",
"version": "0.5",
"browser_specific_settings": {"gecko": {"id": "XXX@XXX.XXX"}},
"chrome_url_overrides": {"newtab": "newtab.html"},
"permissions": ["clipboardRead"]
}
Then again, I almost always type in domains, I don't search for most websites - I know their domains or their duckduckgo !bang, or have a bookmark.
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/minim-a-minimal-new...
I recently just created my own custom new tab extension. Closed source because it's literally just for me. It does a few nieche things e.g. syncing a todo list that also appears on a e-ink display. I like it. I also like that it's something that's just for me.
I suspect you are being hammered with requests now. Because in both Brave and Chrome, there is about a .5 second delay until the new tab page appears. Until then, there is just a black screen.
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/bwnt-new-tab/doiinc...
A few first impressions:
- The dark overlay when customising the screen makes it hard to see the visual adjustments- And
- Can the clock default to system (12 or 24 hours)?
- Can I add the pinned tabs I had on the default home screen somehow?
I have added these suggestions to the to-do list and should come out in the next update!
https://www.howtogeek.com/333805/how-to-change-or-customize-...
This site shows the steps. I tried it and mine is working. Firefox Developer Edition.
I put all my super frequent bookmarks there, big buttons are easy to click, keyboard shortcut.
Doesn't sync tho :(
maybe try synchronizing over github or gitlab thru git?
Neat landing page anyway.
Looking at those 3 images, I have absolutely no clue how it is a customizable new tab page? What does the to do list looks like? Can I have custom widgets? Can it do custom css?
Once upon a time, when you opened a new browser window (tabs were not a thing yet), you got something called the homepage. Some adware you installed changed that, and that caused pushback - it was generally agreed that the homepage belonged to the user and they could set it however they liked.
These days, the new tab page has taken over most of the role of the homepage, to the point that when my browser starts I see the new tab page. I actually had to check what my homepage is set at because I never see it (it's about:blank apparently).
Browser manufacturers mostly agree that the new tab page belongs to them, not the user. I tried Brave a while back and it wouldn't let me change the thing in the first place (I think that's fixed now). Would you like some sponsored links carefully curated for you? News from a source we have an advertising agreement with? (In this country, if you try and adjust your "news source" in anything Microsoft-owned, there's only one option and it's a right-wing tabloid.) The default new tab page is basically an ad, and you can't just change it you need someone to write an _extension_ for that. Good luck if you're not a developer.
People writing ad-free new tab extensions for the rest of us are performing tikkun olam. May the Lord bless you.
Unrelated, but I think we all need to migrate to a new word instead of "minimal" for such things. Perhaps just "simple." I get what we all mean as applied to this project, but it isn't what minimal typically means in English. A minimal new tab experience would be a blank tab.
Than, please, add a screenshot to the repository.
White label this and sell it to luxury brands. Sell it to Crane Stationary, Leuchtturm1917. Here's your potential customer list: https://thepleasureofwriting.com/pages/shop-paper-by-brand
Use a warm off-white, not unlike YC's background, and render the brand logo in a subdued grey at the bottom of the tab/page. Make it a link to a landing page on their site: "You love new possibilities. Crane stands ready to serve your imagination."