Default "new tab" page?

April 14, 2010 7:31 PM

I am setting a custom "new tab" default page in my browser. I would use about:blank, but I need it to be a real website (see why inside). I don't need a functional website (google homepage, etc) but just want a nice, relaxing, simple page to use as my default new tab. Any ideas? More details inside.

Short story long, I've started using gleeBox extension for Chrome, which is very much akin to quicksilver for mac. On any webpage, as long as I don't have an input field in focus, I can press "g" to bring up a small command line window over my browser. I can use this command line to execute a ton of different commands, including any YubNub commands, which let you do things like "az Dan Brown" to search amazon for Dan Brown, or "gca -w [e-mail] -s Those darn TPS reports" to open a new message in gmail to the supplied email addy and subject line. Pretty cool, I know.

Now, my one gripe right now, is that it is most natural for me to hit cmd+t to open a new tab when I want to do something. Then, I want to be able to hit "g" and execute a web-command. The problem is, gleeBox doesn't seem to work nicely with Chrome's default new tab page, which is noted in a few bug reports. I installed a Chrome extension that lets me change the new tab page. I tried about:blank, but gleeBox doesn't play nice with it either. It needs a real website to be loaded before it will open.

So, unless you can tell me how to get gleeBox to work nicely with Chrome's default new tab page, I need a real-webpage equivalent of about:blank. Here are my criteria:

1. Must be very fast loading
2. Must be simple- not distracting, complex, overbearing
3. Must be aesthetically pleasing. I'm cool with a blank page, but something neater looking would be fine.
4. Does not need to be functional- I already use google homepage as my homepage, and gleeBox+YubNub gives me copious amounts of functionality.

So, any ideas?

posted by kraigory to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

Best answer: http://www.blankwebpage.com/
posted by fake at 7:35 PM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Google or Wikipedia (the main portal, not en.wikipedia.org).
posted by bettafish at 7:35 PM on April 14, 2010

There is only one solution: WELCOME TO INTERNET!
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:38 PM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

Best answer: So why dont you create your own page?
just load up an HTML editor, write some text of your liking, throw in a few hyperlinks, and voila!
the file should end with an .htm extension, resides in your disk, and you tell the browser to load that page by default.
posted by theKik at 7:44 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nice, relaxing, simple? Kurtli weather. Pick your own city here.
posted by oinopaponton at 7:46 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

A list of Single Serving Sites

With sound
zombo com - The only limit is yourself.
sad trombone
instant rimshot

Without sound: The Surrealist Compliment Generator
posted by carsonb at 7:50 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

http://iamawesome.com/
posted by asras at 7:51 PM on April 14, 2010

TheKik has the solution I'd use. Or, take a look at http:/:www.quixapp.com as an alternative to gleebox.
posted by backwards guitar at 8:41 PM on April 14, 2010

What theKik said. My home page is a local page of my most-used links, in a table, created in Open Office. I never understood why more people don't do that. I tried some plug-in, but it didn't like the number of links. (pity, it looked very nice).
posted by Goofyy at 8:43 PM on April 14, 2010

Response by poster: The "create your own" was a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, gleebox doesn't play with local files, only real urls. And, the real url page has to have a link on it for gleebox to open, because it's designed to be used to navigate around links on a page.

I'm thinking about using: This Page Intentionally Left Blank. It's got a charm to it, and it suits the purpose.
posted by kraigory at 9:19 PM on April 14, 2010

purple.com is one I always liked. Maybe there are other colors too.
posted by circular at 9:59 PM on April 14, 2010

Here's what I use. It's a reformatted version of one created in an old FF extension called MyPortal. I actually reinstalled Firefox 2 so I could have MyPortal re-render one of these with some new bookmarks. Puts the favicons in and everything.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:26 PM on April 14, 2010

I use this undistraction.
posted by Eshkol at 5:16 AM on April 15, 2010

Are you using a Mac? (Asking since you mention Quicksilver) If so, you are running a webserver already. My home page is set to 127.0.0.1, localhost, and opens using my own page. It's nothing exciting - a test version of my actual site - but I have a landing page with a few of the links I hit the most often (and links to a few reference pages I host for my own uses).

If you aren't on a Mac, there's always IIS if you want to risk the potential security issues. But using localhost or 127.0.0.1 loopback IP might trick gleebox into thinking you are accessing a site rather than a file.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:40 AM on April 15, 2010

The site you described.
posted by Biru at 9:46 AM on April 15, 2010

I came in to recommend the same thing as theKik, except I do actually upload to a server because I use a portable browser on multiple computers. A simple list of your top three links would take no time at all (and no server space, either).

Alternately, try a mobile version of some page you access frequently: xhtml.weather.com/xhtml/cc/{ZIP}, m.facebook.com, m.rememberthemilk.com, www.google.com/reader/m, or whatever your favorite is. Though I do think your to-do list or calendar would be good to have onscreen often.

Ooh, or fav4.org - pick your top 4 used sites (from the most 100 or so), get a page with 4 giant icons.
posted by timepiece at 12:32 PM on April 16, 2010