On the whole whenever new features are added to web browsers, they are often to make the browser more efficient, the browsing experience richer or more secure. A browser that needs twice as many clicks or takes twice as long to do something wouldnât be too popular. This is the case when opening a new tab or a separate new window in todayâs popular browsers. Most have tried to enhance a new tab and make things a bit easier for you.
All the major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and even the newer Edge fill a new tab page with things like search bars, quick links, news stories, your most visited site history and even advertisements in some cases. This isnât a problem and can be quite convenient for some users. But others prefer not to have things like sites you visit most often showing whenever a new tab is opened. That can be a privacy concern, especially if anyone else does or could use your browser.
Although you might have nothing to hide concerning your web history, opening an empty new tab page instead of one filled with content you might have no use for is faster as well as better privacy wise. Here we show you how to disable the default new tab and new window content and load a blank page instead. This is for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi and Internet Explorer and should also work with most browsers based on those listed.
Mozilla Firefox and Firefox Based Browsers
For a long time now Firefox has defaulted to a new tab page that includes a search bar and your most used top sites with optional suggested sites merged in. If you open a new window Firefox will use your default homepage.
Changing the new tab page to a blank page is quite easy. Click on the Customize cog icon in the top right of the new tab window. Then check the Show blank page option.
This blank page has a bit of a problem though because the customize button is still visible. That means anyone can go into the menu and turn the top sites option back on. For a true blank page you have to use an extension. The Blank New Tab extension is an obvious choice because it performs that one function and nothing else.
Something like New Tab Override pictured above offers a bit more and has the flexibility to create different new tab pages such as blank, the default Firefox home page (about:home), syncing tabs or opening a URL from the clipboard.
How to calculate coverage for ui test. May 24, 2016 - UI Testing & Code Coverage. When are you done testing? It's question that has both baffled and annoyed those in the software. May 13, 2014 - hi all, I have an idea to implement code coverage measurement for our automated UI test suite (which consists of about 450 tests). More usually. Mar 31, 2011 - It relates the tests produced to software that we can estimate. Many papers published, full of good advice on code coverage in unit testing. Jul 22, 2014 - When you're looking at unit tests, then it's possible to use code coverage as an indicator (there are tools that can measure what percentage of.
Itâs worth noting that the Firefox based Waterfox has the same new tab page as Firefox itself. Cyberfox on the other hand, allows you to set an about:blank new tab page in the settings. Pale Moon actually defaults to opening an empty new tab with just the logo as the background. Itâs not a true about:blank empty page but is certainly good enough.
Google Chrome and Chromium Based Browsers
The open source Chromium browser has led to the creation of dozens of other third party browsers, including Google Chrome. For some strange reason Chromium and therefore Chrome do not have an option to change the new tab behavior, even in the advanced settings.
That means you are left with a most visited sites and search bar window every time a new tab or new page is opened. Many browsers that are based on Chromium will have the same or a slightly modified new tab. These include Dragon, Chromodo, SRWare Iron, Slimjet, Yandex and Torch.
Through the use of extensions the blank new tab function can easily be added. Of course, there are many new tab extensions around that can do all kinds of things such as creating a speed dial or showing Google earth images on a new tab page. For a simple bank page you can use something like Blank New Tab or alternatively Empty New Tab Page â Black will give you a blank page with a black background.
The empty new tab extension will also create an empty tab when you open a new browser window (Ctrl+N). If you receive a popup message saying the new tab page has been changed by an extension, press the Keep changes button.
Opera
Opera is based on Chromium these days and is now Chinese owned. It has for a long time shown a speed dial button instead of a home button. The speed dial lists a number of favorites, a search bar and a news section and it appears when you click to open a new tab. Hereâs how to replace the speed dial with an empty new tab.
1. Click the Opera menu and go to Settings or press Alt+P. Click the Browser section on the left, scroll to the bottom and check the Show advanced settings box.
2. Open a new speed dial window and click the Customize cog icon at the top right. Uncheck all the boxes in the window to remove the news, search box, speed dial buttons, side navigation buttons and optionally the theme. This will leave you with just the Customize button visible.
3. This last step is optional. Follow step 1 but uncheck the Show advanced settings box. The reason for enabling advanced options first is the speed dial and the search box options are only available when the advanced settings are active. Turning it off again means nobody can casually turn on the speed dial and search bar from the cog icon.
While this type of blank new tab should be enough for most users, those wanting a truly empty new tab need to use an Opera extension. The Custom New Tab Page extension will work, simply go to the extension options and enter about:blank as the url. Alternatively you can use anything in the Chrome Web Store by installing Download Chrome Extension first. Like many Chromium based browsers the new window option in Opera will display the same as the new tab.
Vivaldi
Vivaldi is also Chromium based and the new major browser on the block. Itâs developers come from the original Opera before it moved to Chromium. Vivaldi is designed to be as configurable as old Opera was so opening a new tab as an empty page should be easy.
Go to the Vivaldi menu > Tools > Settings or press Alt+P, click Tabs down the left and type about:blank into the New Tab Page box. Press Save and thatâs it!
Opening a new window will also open the same blank page. There seems to be some sort of bug currently in Vivaldi where setting the new tab page as about:blank causes the browser to crash when opening a new window. Hopefully this will be fixed in the near future.
Microsoft Edge
Unfortunately Edge cannot show a completely blank page when you click for a new tab. Microsoftâs definition of a blank page for Edge is different to everyone elseâs because what they offer is not a page with nothing on it, but instead a page with a Bing search bar.
By default the Edge new tab page displays the Bing search bar, your most visited Top Sites and also a news feed for your region. To get it to show the minimum of just the search bar click to open a new tab and on the right hand side above your top sites click the cog wheel Customize button. In the page display settings select âA blank pageâ and click the Save button at the bottom.
The result is the search bar only page which is currently the best you can do. When there are more extensions available for Edge we might see one for a proper blank new tab like in other browsers.
When opening a new window in Edge it is the same page as when launching the browser. As a consequence the setting which controls the start page is also the same. Go to More > Settings, click on the âOpen Microsoft Edge withâ drop down and select âA specific page or pagesâ. In the URL box below the drop down type about:blank and click the Save icon.
You wonât need to do this if you already have your own custom start page. Also, the top sites history does not appear on the standard Edge start page so this step is not necessary if you only wanted to hide the history. Itâs also possible to use the same search bar only blank page as new tabs by selecting New tab page instead of specific page or pages.
Internet Explorer
While Internet Explorer has been superseded by Edge in Windows 10, thereâs still some things which Internet Explorer does better. The simple task of opening a new tab as a blank page is one tiny example. By default Internet Explorer 11âs new tab page is populated with a Bing search bar and a number of your most frequently visited sites. To get a blank page when opening a new IE tab:
1. Click on the Tools cog icon and select Internet Options. On the default General tab click the Tabs button about half way down.
2. Click on the drop down menu under âWhen a new tab is opened, open:â and select A blank page. Press OK to confirm the changes.
When opening a new window in Internet Explorer it will open the new window and populate it with the active tab from the current window. So if your active tab is blank pressing Ctrl+N will open with a blank tab, if itâs Google.com it will open with a Google.com tab and etc.
You might also like:Warn when Closing Multiple Open Tabs in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Internet ExplorerMaximize New Internet Explorer WindowsRecommended to Update IE8 to Internet Explorer 93 Best Extensions to Easily Auto Fill Forms in Chrome and FirefoxAnalyze Font Information on a Website with Firefox or Chrome
This is not a problem? With utmost respect, I nevertheless beg to loudly differ! This trend of constantly throwing distractions in our faces is wasteful and frustrating. I chronically forget whatever task I needed the browser for in the first place as soon as the browser throws a bunch of junk clickbait in my face. Itâs like trying to count consecutively with someone speaking random numbers in my ear.
This seems to be part of a growing problem: the incentive to waste the userâs time, and to develop new and more effective ways of distracting people from their tasks. Maybe itâs as the article suggests, and these âfeaturesâ are really intended to improve the experience, but like most annoying âimprovementsâ (Iâm struggling to contain my anger), they canât be turned off! Nor can they be controlled! I just see whatever random junk the browser chooses! Why why why does everything have to be automatic with no option for manual operation??? New Tab Wallpapers Firefox
I bet the families of the Boeing crashes would like to know.
Give my back my autonomy. Iâm not an invalid, and Iâll perform the tasks I wish to perform when I am good and ready. Thatâs what commands are for, for crying out loud.
Please, please end the insanity; it doesnât have to be this way!
Reply
HAL9000 Author3 months ago
You are taking and criticizing one half of a sentence while ignoring the other half. It says: âThis isnât a problem and can be quite convenient for some users.â And that is true, not everyone will dislike new tab pages or feel as strongly about them as you obviously do. ;)
Reply
Thanks for the help!
Reply
taztiger7 years ago
It is beaut for you to point out these solutions to small annoyances. It makes Reply
computer using cleaner and neater.
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear :) On a serious note Iâve found Chromeâs listing utterly useless, instead of the sites I visit most it lists sites Iâve visited once, and some of those from over six months ago. Iâll be switching Firefoxâs off straight away, since whenever I start it I click restore previous session anyhow. Thanks for the heads up.
Reply
me, myself and Her1 month ago
âIf you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fearâ
That line has always annoyed me. It was, is, and always will be specious reasoning at best.
Whenever somebody tries to pull that line out, itâs worth asking them a few simple thingsâ¦
Do you have curtains or blinds up at your windows? If so, why? Surely you donât need them if you have nothing to hide.
What style underwear are you wearing right now, and what colour? What did you browse for yesterday? How many inches is your favourite thing?
Everybody has something they might not want others to see, or know about.
People might have a health worry that theyâre not ready to discuss with others yet.
Maybe they have been looking for a gift for their partner, that they wish to be a surprise. Perhaps they have been looking for a local pony riding club for their child, and they donât want them to know until they get there.
Or any one of numerous scenarios could be in play.
Itâs then worth explaining to them that sometimes things arenât quite as simple as they make them out to be. Reply
Tell them to look beyond their own horizon, and they might discover, and may well be surprised at how complex and fascinating the world can be, and then, they hopefully might also realise that not everybody wants their whole life laid bare for others.
Thanks Raymond! :)
Reply
Raymond Admin7 years ago
Thatâs right Straspey, you can actually replace it with any URL of your choice but wouldnât you be annoyed when opening a new tab and it constantly loading the same site over and over again? :P
Reply
Based on your instructions for Firefox, I did a little experimenting and discovered you can replace the about:url with anyweb address you want.
New Tab Picture Firefox
I replaced it with Google, so now when I open a new tab it goes straight to the Google homepage.
Maybe I should have used raymond.cc/blog/ instead ? ;)
Thanks for this tip â itâs very useful.
Reply
Leave a Reply
Firefox 57 comes with a lot of changes, and that includes a new tab design. If youâre not happy with the new tab design, there are options when it comes to customizing the Firefox Quantum new tab page.
For example, itâs possible to add a background image to the new tab. You can also have your favorite sites appear with every new tab so theyâre easier to access. There are different options when it comes to adding your own personal touch; letâs see what they are.
1. Add a Background Image to Firefox 57âs New Tab
If you find Firefox 57âs new tab page dull, add some life to it with the New Tab Tool 86 extension. With this tool you can add more tiles, add an image from your computer, and even see the recently closed tabs.
To add an image, click on the cog wheel on the upper-right corner. At the bottom left you should see the option to add your photo. You can also decide how many tiles you want per row and how many columns. Thereâs also an option to choose between a dark and light theme as well.
2. Get the Old Tab Page in Firefox Quantum
When you open a new tab in Firefox 57, you see the search bar at the top, followed by the most visited, and finally with some highlighted sites. If you donât like the new design and want to revert back to the old tab page in the pre-Firefox Quantum era, youâll need to type
about:config in the search bar.
Click âYesâ and say youâll take the risk of voiding your warranty. Type
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.enabled in the search bar and click on âTrueâ until it turns into âFalse.â Reboot Firefox and the next time you open a new tab, youâll see the new (or perhaps, the old) changes.
3. Customize the Most Visited Sites in a New Tab
At the top of a new tab, youâll see the sites you visit the most. To either add or remove a row, click on the cog wheel, and on the âShow two rowsâ option under âMost Visited.â
As long as youâre in the Settings tab, you can also remove the search bar and choose to get information from Mozilla about updates and even a meme here and there.
4. Add a Yahoo Look to a New Tab
With the New Tab by Yahoo extension, you get a new tab but with a touch of Yahoo. You get a new image with every new tab. For example, with one tab you can get an image of a mountain and with another an image of flowers.
At the top youâll see whatâs trending and at the bottom shortcuts to sites such as Yahoo, Facebook, Firefox extensions and more. If you use the search bar, it will give you your results by using Yahoo (obviously) as the browser that gives you the results.
5. Have a Particular Site Open with Every New Tab
If you have a blog and want Firefox to open it every time you launch a new tab, that can easily be done by installing the New Tab Override extension. Once the extension is installed, go to Firefoxâs settings and then to the extensions option.
Click on the extension, and you should see the space where you can add the site URL. You can only add one site. If you try to add two, the new tab will simply freeze.
Conclusion
Just because Firefox Quantumâs new tab page is different, it doesnât mean it also has to be boring. These options will help you personalize the new tab page to best suits your needs. How are you going to personalize your new tab page? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
How to Add and Remove Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites on Firefox New Tab page Starting with Firefox 63.0, search shortcuts for Top Sites were added. Amazon and Google appear as Top Sites tiles on the Firefox Home (New Tab) page. When selected these tiles will change focus to the address bar to initiate a search. Firefox lets you pin search for Google, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Twitter and Wikipedia in your top sites. Currently in US only. See also: Save a step when you're searching with Firefox | The Firefox Frontier This tutorial will show you how to add and remove search engine shortcut icons in Top Sites on the New Tab page in Firefox for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
EXAMPLE: Search engine icons in Top Sites on New Tab page in Firefox
Unpin Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites
1. Open Firefox, and open a new tab (Ctrl+T). 2. Hover the pointer over the search icon (ex: Amazon) you want to remove until you see the dots icon. (see screenshot below) 3. Click/tap on the dots icon, and click/tap on Unpin.
Add and Remove Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites
1. Open Firefox, and open a new tab (Ctrl+T). 2. Click/tap on the three dots icon on the top right side of Top Sites, and click/tap on Add Search Engine. (see screenshot below) 3. Check (add) and uncheck (remove) the search engines you want for your Top Sites, and click/tap on Save when finished. (see screenshot below)
Enable or Disable Search Engine Shortcut Icons in Top Sites
1. Open Firefox. 2. Type about:config into the address bar, press Enter, and click/tap on the I accept the risk button. (see screenshot below)3. Copy and paste browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts into the search box, and press Enter. (see screenshots below step 4)4. Double click/tap on the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts setting to change its value to true (enable - default) or false (disable) for what you want. (see screenshots below) 5. You can now close this about:config tab if you like.That's it, Shawn
Do you even remember when you started using the tabbed interface on browsers and got used to it? I really donât, but I understand one thing for certain, and itâs that it saves me a lot of time and effort. It makes my browsing easier on the whole. However, there is not much one can do with a blank new tab page. And this is the very reason most modern browsers have tried implementing the thumbnail interface.
Previously we saw how to customize the new tab settings and enhance our experience on Google Chrome. On those lines, today we will see what can be done with Mozilla Firefox.
Well, if you are using Firefox 13 or later, you must have noticed that you have a new tab page that shows up to 9 thumbnails of your most recently and frequently visited web sites. Besides, you can always delete the ones you do not want, rearrange the thumbnails or pin your favorite websites.
At any given time, if you want to switch back to the blank page you can toggle the view by clicking on the icon at the top right (shown in the above image) of the interface.
Running Sage 50 and Sage 200 Extra on the same PC This article clarifies our position and support stance for scenarios where Sage 50 products are installed to the same PC as Sage 200 Extra. Note: Sage 50 refers to Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Payroll, Sage 50 HR, Sage 50 P11D, Sage 50 Forecasting and Sage 50 Job Costing. Sage 200c Professional, Sage 200 Extra, Extra Online and all other modules. Sage 200 CRM 2017 R2 - Installation & Upgrade PDF guide. Migration tool for Sage 50 Sage 200c: For use with migrating Sage 50 Accounts v23.2 or v24 data to Sage 200c Professional. Sage 200c instal on same machine as sage 50 accounts.
Cool Tip:
New Tab Wallpaper For FirefoxYou can also pin the bookmarks by dragging and dropping them on any of the thumbnail.
If you are not satisfied with the number of tiles and wish to increase the number of rows and columns then you may give a try to the New Tab Tools extension for Firefox
Open Specific Websites on New Tab Page
Most of know how to point the home page of Firefox (or any other browser) to a specific website. How about simulating the same on a new tab? We have talked about a nifty add-on called NewTabURL that helps you in the process, before. Let us see how to do it manually.
Step 1: Open a Firefox tab and enter about:config on its address bar. Hit Enter.
Step 2: On the preferences window search for browser.newtab.url. You will see only one option for the result.
Step 3: Double click on it and enter the URL of the site that you prefer to open with every new tab page. For example, I have it set to Guiding Tech.
To use the home page as new tab page set the values to about:home. For a blank new tab set it to about:blank.
Cool Tip: We also have a trick to use the home page as a task reminder. Now, you can use it on a new tab too.
Custom New Tabis another add-on for Firefox that helps you to customize the new tab page on the same lines. You may try it if you find the above process a little techie.
Add Backgrounds to New Tab Page
There is a cool extension called Browser Backgrounds that puts wallpaper on every new page. And each time it would show a new background making things more interesting.
Conclusion
These are the very basic methods to customize a new tab page on Firefox. There are many add-ons in the market that help you make the page flashy and decorative but that only adds to the weight and makes the browser slow. If you know of more tricks on this from do share with us.
Also See#Firefox #How-to/Guides
Did You Know
The Mozilla Firefox browser was originally called Phoenix 0.1.
More in FirefoxHow to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts in Firefox 67Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |