I got tired of losing my current page every time I clicked a bookmark and forgot to Ctrl+click. So I built a Chrome extension that makes bookmarks open in a new tab by default — with just a regular left-click.
What seemed like a simple idea turned out to be surprisingly tricky to implement. Chrome doesn't provide a direct API for intercepting bookmark clicks from the bookmarks bar, so I had to get creative:
- The extension slightly rewrites the bookmark URL (using the username part of the URL scheme)
- When clicked, the link redirects to a harmless ZIP file, which triggers a download and leaves the current tab untouched
- The extension intercepts the download and instantly cancels it
- Then it opens the original URL in a new tab
The final solution may look over-engineered — and it kind of is — but it works reliably, preserves favicons, and doesn't break UX.
You can try it here:
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/open-bookmarks-in-a...
Happy to hear your feedback.
