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