[HN Gopher] Show HN: Minimal, customizable new tab for Chrome/Fi...
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Show HN: Minimal, customizable new tab for Chrome/Firefox
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
Author : georg-stone
Score : 51 points
Date : 2024-11-25 15:51 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.flowtide.app)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.flowtide.app)
| jpcom wrote:
| Reminds me of the mac lock screen, nicely done!
| Y-bar wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Yes, I did not know what they were called.
| georg-stone wrote:
| Currently, you can't. Chrome doesn't have a built-in API
| for getting these, but you can have a bookmarks widget.
| Y-bar wrote:
| What about Firefox? Which is what I am using.
| georg-stone wrote:
| After some research, it doesn't seem like Firefox
| supports it.
| atulvi wrote:
| Also checkout Minim for chrome. Very Minimal and Open Source
|
| https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/minim-a-minimal-new...
| andrelaszlo wrote:
| 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.
| kelvinjps10 wrote:
| I leave a new tab open, and seeing this kind of information is
| useful
| bityard wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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)
| reddotchaser wrote:
| Maybe cloud IDEs are mandated by orgs in some cases! I'd
| leave on day 1
| georg-stone wrote:
| Lots of orgs use Replit, which is just a cloud IDE
| anyways
| connicpu wrote:
| 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.
| georg-stone wrote:
| It's just some inspiration I can have when typing in my URL bar
| I guess
| lhamil64 wrote:
| 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.
| LauraMedia wrote:
| 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.
| diggan wrote:
| > 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.
| conceptualspace wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| https://web.tabliss.io
| drdaeman wrote:
| 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.
| torgoguys wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| I agree! "Minimalistic" would probably have been a better
| choice for this project.
| croisillon wrote:
| next on the list are the js frameworks called "vanilla"
| Ringz wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| I added it! Thanks so much for your feedback!
| elpocko wrote:
| 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.
| djbusby wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| > Doesn't sync tho :(
|
| maybe try synchronizing over github or gitlab thru git?
| hxii wrote:
| Neat! Reminds me of Tabliss
| (https://github.com/joelshepherd/tabliss) as well.
| Kavenerinds wrote:
| 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!
| AbraKdabra wrote:
| 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.
| killjoywashere wrote:
| 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."
| hambes wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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...
| triclops200 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Thanks so much for the feedback! I have just added that to the
| list!
| jesprenj wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| cwales95 wrote:
| 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.
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(page generated 2024-11-25 23:00 UTC)