Chrome New Tab page

An update to Google Chrome has changed the New Tab page, which now shows a Google search box and thumbnails of the user’s most frequently visited sites. Delete the thumbnails and you’re left with stupid grey rectangles, at least for a while.

The changes are a poor choice, for two reasons:

1. Chrome’s address bar/search box, the so-called “omnibox,” makes an additional search box unnecessary.

2. There may be good reasons for a user to want to keep browsing history out of view. Obviously embarrassing websites: of course. But also: if you’re opening a tab to show, say, a news item to your spouse, the last thing you want on the screen is the browsing you’ve been doing for a birthday present. D’oh.

Google Support has more to say about these changes: Use the New Tab page. I’m looking for directions on how to Curse the New Tab page. For now, I will make up my own.

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9:24 a.m.: An extension solves the problem: Empty New Tab Page.