Problem with new tab replacement

[Uladzimir Yankovich]

Colleagues, I like how the discussions have been developing here lately. So I would like to start another one. Very important for me personally. Some issues that are currently relevant for extensions that change the new tab.

1. Lack of access to Shortcuts created on the native Chrome tab - https://gang.manganum.app/vvxF5CWs. Every week I explain to 10-15 users why I can't transfer them automatically.

2. Nightmare modal window with a suggestion to disable the newly installed new tab extension - https://gang.manganum.app/bWQPqt7d. Does anyone understand why it is needed? The user just accepted this permission when installing the extension in the store. Why take him away? I think it would be fairer if Google showed this window 5-7 days after installation. This would be more efficient for both Google and quality extension developers.

3. Recently, Chrome has been actively developing customization—particularly the color themes. At the same time, the new Chrome tab uses the color of the active theme as the background - it's beautiful. We would also like to achieve the best user experience in our products. But we don't have access to information about the active color theme.

I would be glad to hear comments, advice and other problems from colleagues, the opinion of the guys from Google.

[Patrick Kettner]

Hi Uladzimir!

> 1. Lack of access to Shortcuts created...

Great feature request, have you opened a bug on crbug or on the WECG to track it?

> 2... Does anyone understand why it is needed? The...

This was added before me, but I am guessing it is a response to malicious extensions. Most users that understand that they just had an extension change their homepage don't mind the message, and most users that do mind don't want to wait a week. Do you find the language confuses people?

> 3. ... We would also like to achieve the best user experience in our products. But we don't have access to information about the active color theme.

Another great feature request! Since it is browser specific, please do share any official bugs you've filed so I can make sure to star them

patrick

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[Uladzimir Yankovich]

Patrick, thank you for responding 🙏

1 and 3. I searched on Crbug and didn't find anything similar, so I started new issues - https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1449605 and https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1449620. I would appreciate it if you could see if I described the problem clearly. 

2. I understand. But this warning came in the time of inline installation. It was a crazy time. I understand what Chrome was struggling with back then.

But I don't understand what Chrome is struggling with now.

Why isn't this warning enough for extensions that change the new tab - https://gang.manganum.app/S5yjK97q ? Or why is this warning enough for extensions requesting all_host? :)

Other than that, separate attention should be paid to which answer option in the dialog Chrome highlights as the preferred one - https://gang.manganum.app/xvWknZMv.

So far it looks, not as a care for users or developers, but as a care for the interests of Chrome. I myself have worked in the browser and know how important the new browser tab is. For the same reason, many browsers (Opera, Yandex, etc) prohibit overriding it altogether.

However, Chrome has always been the most open and fair platform. And I hope this is just a relic of the past that was forgotten to be removed.

[Patrick Kettner]

Thanks for opening bugs! I believe it is always better to keep requests in crbug to make sure they get the best chance of implementation.

In the end, we have repeatedly found that users appreciate the extra reminder/notification about how to change their New Tab Page back. We do reconsider UI choices like this relatively frequently, and do not have any plans on changing it as of now.

[hrg...@gmail.com]

Is the chrome.topSites API what you are looking for?

https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/topSites/

[Uladzimir Yankovich]

Yes, but unfortunately most users use hand-crafted shortcuts.

[hrg...@gmail.com]

If you can't wait for that feature to be implemented, you can implement it yourself in your new tab page. The manually-added shortcuts in your new tab page will be different from the ones that were added in the factory new tab page, but that shouldn't be a problem since the user will only use one new tab page (yours) not both.

[Uladzimir Yankovich]

Undoubtedly. That's precisely what I did.

But first, losing existing user data is a terrible UX.

Secondly, in this scenario, the migration process is impossible or almost impossible. One of our users told us that he transferred shortcuts using a hint screenshot 🤣

--

Uladzimir Yankovich,

Founder @ Manganum (manganum.app).

[Robbi]

Hi everyone,
let me bring up another "feature" that has been "requested" in the past but always a bit snubbed.

I'm talking about making the newtab override optional (and reversible) by the user at any time.

As far as I can remember, it's been talked about HERE and HERE

I look forward to your authoritative comments.