Show HN: Minimal, customizable new tab for Chrome/Firefox

[georg-stone]

https://www.flowtide.app

Hello HN!

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

[andrelaszlo]

It looks really nice.

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.

[drdaeman → andrelaszlo]

I have frequently used sites listed on my new tab, and use those to quickly navigate without typing.

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.

[bityard → andrelaszlo]

I do the same as you, but I know of plenty of people (even some developers) whose computing workflow looks like this: Boot computer, log in, start web browser, make it full screen. And that is where they work/play for the whole day.

That describes ChromeOS users of course, but there are Apple and Windows (and presumably Linux) users who have the same workflow.

[Liquix → bityard]

it's hard to believe a developer working in a fullscreen browser all day could be anywhere near as productive as an equally-skilled dev using a terminal/keyboard-based workflow. how does one install packages, ssh into boxes, extract data from files, etc? or maybe they only work with cloud services and use webapp IDEs/terminals? seems like a bizarre choice (for devs specifically)

[connicpu → Liquix]

I don't literally spend all day in a browser, but I technically use one most of the day since vscode is based on Electron. My second monitor flips between Firefox and my terminal tmux session, about a 50/50 time split. I'm sure there's plenty of other developers like me, using the terminal for a good number of system tasks but just can't kick the mouse habit completely in their editor.

[reddotchaser → Liquix]

Maybe cloud IDEs are mandated by orgs in some cases! I’d leave on day 1

[georg-stone → reddotchaser]

Lots of orgs use Replit, which is just a cloud IDE anyways

[akdev1l → Liquix]

Web terminals are alright. I can work at full capacity from my iPad thanks to them.

RDP does exist of course as well as something like Guacamole so one is not limited to only terminals or web IDEs

[diggan → andrelaszlo]

> 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.

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.

[bcye → andrelaszlo]

I recently configured my new tab page to be a minimal html file, with a list of commonly used links and a hotkey associated with each.

I can immediately redirect to any with 0-9 and still have quick access to the address bar via ctrl+k

[rascul → andrelaszlo]

> when do people look at blank tabs?

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.

[georg-stone → andrelaszlo]

https://web.tabliss.io

[lhamil64 → andrelaszlo]

I'm the same. The only exception is on mobile, sometimes I'll use the quick pinned bookmarks on the new tab page. But on desktop I load a homepage when I launch the browser and only open a new tab when I need to enter a URL or search query.

[igornadj → andrelaszlo]

A blank tab is super useful when you just want to make some mental space. When you're taking a break but don't want to close everything down or switch to another app.

[conceptualspace → andrelaszlo]

when i open a new tab its often to open a bookmark - so for me a speed dial is super useful. here's mine (open source): https://github.com/conceptualspace/yet-another-speed-dial

[georg-stone → andrelaszlo]

It's just some inspiration I can have when typing in my URL bar I guess

[kelvinjps10 → andrelaszlo]

I leave a new tab open, and seeing this kind of information is useful

[LauraMedia → andrelaszlo]

On my work device, I have daily.dev installed. Every work day, I usually invest 15-20 minutes of catching up with recent news about all things dev and having it as the "new tab" helps me not forgetting about it.

Other than that, yeah, I usually CTRL+T and write right away.

[davgoldin]

Looks nice, I wish you best of luck! I personally haven't seen my "new tab" page in a very long time. 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. Skipping a bunch of clicks and the "new tab" page. Should be Ctrl+L Alt+Enter on Windows.

[klez → davgoldin]

I'm curious: is there a particular reason for this very specific workflow? Is there an advantage I'm not seeing over Ctrl+T, type url, press Enter? Or is it just the way you do it?

[davgoldin → klez]

Just something I got used to do. My right palm is always conveniently hovering above the right Ctrl, Alt and L, Enter keys, making those combos easy and instant.

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).

[tzot → klez]

> Is there an advantage I'm not seeing over Ctrl+T

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.

[nsonha → klez]

Everyone who knows hotkeys does this.

[klez → nsonha]

This what? Ctrl+T -> Type -> Enter or Ctrl+L -> Type -> Alt+Enter?

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.

[nsonha → klez]

Ctrl + L, you don't wanna remember 2 different hot keys for new tab and replace (current tab's) url

[majkinetor → klez]

That "type of worklofw" is the main workflow. The difference is that he is using a shortcut rather than clicking URL bar. U dont always need a new tab.

[klez → majkinetor]

If I don't need a new tab I'll just do Ctrl+L like they do, but we were discussing specifically about the workflow to open a new tab:

> 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.

[saghm → davgoldin]

If you like saving clicks, maybe the new tab page I've been using for years might interest you[0]. I like being able to just open a new tab and go to a page with a single keystroke, so I threw this together years ago to let me define a custom list of shortcuts that I can jump to by hitting the key of which index the site I want (originally I had used a Chrome extension that did something similar, but when I switched to Firefox and couldn't find anything similar enough that I liked, I realized it would be fairly easy to make as a static page that would work on any browser).

[0]: https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/4773156

[jtbetz22 → davgoldin]

I built a chrome extension to optimize this workflow, because the address bar search in Chrome is terrible (as in: it requires you to @-mention what kind of thing you're searching for.)

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.

https://tabomagic.com

[Levitz → davgoldin]

You could simplify it a tiny bit by using Ctrl+T to open a new tab and simply entering the query there, then pressing enter. Saves you the combo on the second hotkey.

Aaaaand it actually does show the new tab page.

[dtgriscom → davgoldin]

Holy cannoli! Good shortcuts: thanks.

[dominicrose → davgoldin]

there was a time when I configured my mouse to have buttons for ctrl+w, ctrl+t, ctrl+shift+t, ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab and I actually used them... until I had to use another mouse on another computer

[wruza → dominicrose]

It’s fine to have your workshop set up unlike a generic empty room.

[elpocko]

I already have the minimal number of features in my new tab in Firefox and I didn't even need to install a 3rd party addon: it's called "Blank page", you can find it in the settings.

[hambes]

I've been using Tabby Cat [1] for a few years now and under no circumstance will I replace my cute cats with a productivity tool.

[1] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tabby-cat/mefhakmgc...

[59seconds → hambes]

Neat! I use the Tabagotchi extension. There's a little monster that grows and then dies when you have too many tabs open. Helps me keep down the tab-clutter.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabagotchi-ne...

[hxii]

Neat! Reminds me of Tabliss (https://github.com/joelshepherd/tabliss) as well.

[zild3d]

Will try it out. Some initial feedback

- 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...)

[jtbetz22 → zild3d]

You might like my extension: https://tabomagic.com. Bookmarks are hidden by default, but as soon as you type something into the search bar, all matching bookmarks show.

[user3939382]

On every new FF install I have to go out of my way to set it to a plain black background. Custom CSS in hidden directories, major PITA.

[cpressland → user3939382]

Any guides for that? My blank page feels like a flash bang going off sometimes.

[scary-size]

I don’t like that Chrome forces you to install an extension to modify the new tab (to such an extent). With Safari, I have it pointed at a local HTML file. That file contains a mini web app with my bookmarks. It has keyboard shortcuts, history and fuzzy search built into it.

[arp242 → scary-size]

For Firefox I have my own little extension that just loads a HTML page with more or less the same as what you're describing. I presume you can also do that with Chrome, but I don't use it so idk.

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"]
  }

And then in newtab.html you can just put anything. It has the clipboardRead permission for some JS code I have to add a "go" button if the clipboard contains an URL

[georg-stone → scary-size]

Really? You can do that? How?

[scary-size → georg-stone]

In desktop Safari, open Settings, select General, then enter a "file://..." URL in the "Homepage" text field.

[triclops200]

Really nice! I'd really like to see more than one todo list option on the main page, personally, so I can get my entire task list (or at least a large number of tasks) shown to me every time I open a new tab. Would be nice as an option, at least

[georg-stone → triclops200]

Thanks so much for the feedback! I have just added that to the list!

[venatiodecorus → georg-stone]

if anything i'd think integration with proper todo list apps would be the way to go

[georg-stone → venatiodecorus]

Good idea! I tried setting up an integration with TickTick, but their API is jank, so I gave up. I will try Todoist soon and maybe Things.

[kaiwenwang]

I've always just used the Bookmarks page with a link to my calendar & tasks as the new tab, in addition to whatever classes/programs/events I need quick access to

[ukuina]

What about good ol' about:blank ?

[lionkor → ukuina]

I use about:blank together with only showing the bookmarks menu bar on new tab pages, and it's basically perfect.

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.

[Kavenerinds]

As a longtime user of Momentum that switched to Bonjourr about 5 months ago, this looks cool. The search function would be the reason for me to switch to this. Thanks for sharing!

[valdrinNereth]

It looks pretty nice, good job! The bookmarks feature is nice actually, but since I have almost a thousand of them saved in my browser, the page tries to load all of them and I couldn't find anything to remove it only from the new tab page. I'd strongly suggest you to add a simple feature of custom bookmarks, separated from browser bookmarks.

[kkfx]

Aesthetically nice, though for me personally a new tab page is mostly a quick access bookmark page where I can configure the appearance a bit, preferably in text/something already existing like Buku, so I can re-create Firefox profile nearly automatically. The over aspects are near noise confronting to bookmarks.

[atulvi]

Also checkout Minim for chrome. Very Minimal and Open Source

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/minim-a-minimal-new...

[cwales95]

Looks good.

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.

[mherrmann]

The landing page looks awesome. Congratulations on the nice design.

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.

[georg-stone → mherrmann]

For the first time, it can take a while because it needs to cache the data url of an image for offline usage. After that, it should load faster. If you have any performance issues, please open a GitHub issue

[porridgeraisin]

BWNT new tab is my favorite:

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/bwnt-new-tab/doiinc...

[Y-bar]

This is great, giving it a try!

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?

[georg-stone → Y-bar]

When saying pinned tabs, you mean shortcuts, right?

I have added these suggestions to the to-do list and should come out in the next update!

[Y-bar → georg-stone]

Yes, I did not know what they were called.

[georg-stone → Y-bar]

Currently, you can't. Chrome doesn't have a built-in API for getting these, but you can have a bookmarks widget.

[Y-bar → georg-stone]

What about Firefox? Which is what I am using.

[georg-stone → Y-bar]

After some research, it doesn't seem like Firefox supports it.

[jesprenj]

I really dislike that you can no longer create a home page that opens on a new tab in firefox. You can still do that on mobile browsers, for example kiwi browser. I have a homepage [0] with large links for resources I frequently visit and I really miss having this as my home page on my computer.

[0] http://splet.4a.si/dir/home.shtml

[razster → jesprenj]

In the about:config you should be able to add a custom url for new tab.

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.

[djbusby]

I love these things. I have a custom NTP for my Chrome and FF profiles. It's my productivity hack.

I put all my super frequent bookmarks there, big buttons are easy to click, keyboard shortcut.

Doesn't sync tho :(

[yapyap → djbusby]

> Doesn't sync tho :(

maybe try synchronizing over github or gitlab thru git?

[heyinzyh]

I have rarely used new tab since I started using arc. It is most practical for new tabs on chrome to have portals for websites that are frequently visited by myself.

Neat landing page anyway.

[jpcom]

Reminds me of the mac lock screen, nicely done!

[bsimpson]

I'm surprised to see an open source project with a professional-looking `.app` site and a privacy policy.

[butz]

about:blank is the best new tab page.

[smusamashah]

Feedback: more screenshots please. I am on phone but even if I open the extension store link, it has only those 3 screenshots.

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?

[red_admiral]

Looks great!

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.

[torgoguys]

It looks nice and works well.

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.

[georg-stone → torgoguys]

I agree! "Minimalistic" would probably have been a better choice for this project.

[croisillon → torgoguys]

next on the list are the js frameworks called "vanilla"

[AbraKdabra]

Nice project, but I've been using the "Earth View from Google Earth" extension for Chrome for more than 10 years I think and I find it really difficult to part ways with it no matter how many features the new extension in the block has, maybe someday someone will add that feature to a new extension and I will be able to replace it.

[Ringz]

> Flowtide is a beautiful, smart New Tab page for your browser.

Than, please, add a screenshot to the repository.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42201300

[georg-stone → Ringz]

I added it! Thanks so much for your feedback!

[killjoywashere]

The new tab, the web's equivalent of a blank page. Staring at a blank page is sometimes associated with maddening frustration, but in most cases it's actually the possibility of something new that captures us.

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."