Elliot Kirk I basically like the new tab page. Since you asked, I'd like an option that disables the news feed even on scroll. Also, I'd like to be able to rearrange the order of quick link tiles by dragging.

Elliot Kirk We should be able to totally get rid of news from the new tab. Hiding News behind a scroll is not good enough for me.

Elliot Kirk I'm liking the new tab page so far, but do have some of the same suggestions above:
1). Ability to turn off the search bar (why is it needed when the omnibox functions as the search box?). 
2). Ability to turn off the news feed entirely for those times extra focus is required.

and to add, unless I missed it:

3). Ability to change location of the news feed for those who live/travel abroad. I'd like to be able to click the settings gear icon and change it which is an option that was available on the old Edge new tab page.

Those seem to be the basics that are missing for me at the moment.

As a bonus: 4). The ability to set quick launch pages in place of "top sites." The UI is nice, but top sites is distracting whereas a minimal favorites-esque set up there would be more useful.

Elliot Kirk I am a huge fan of the Inspirational setup.  It strikes a great balance between looking good and being useful.  

Personally I like insperational.  I like not having the news stuffed in my face (so to speak) and instead having a pleasant photo to look at.    I like having the choice of whether or not to look at the news by scrolling down.   Elliot Kirk 

Dennis5mile

Elliot Kirk Is there any way to add custom background instead of using picture from the bing?

Elliot Kirk I encourage the team to consider additional checkbox options under "Custom", such that the search box and news can be turned off too, resulting in blank NTP if desired with no extension necessary. It seems like this would be easy win vs. the seemingly popular opinion that NTP search/news elements can't be turned off in browsers because the vendor wants to advertise the search/news service. It also allows people to turn off what they consider to be distracting.

If the team doesn't agree, then it might be wise to ensure there's at least one NTP customization extension in the Edge extension store during beta to measure popularity and ensure tester coverage on that type of extension. (There are a number of extensions on Chrome Web Store that blank the NTP, these do appear to work in Edge Dev but we have to pop out to the Chrome Web Store to get them.)

Elliot Kirk Love the new tab especially Inspiration option, striking a good balance with nice images and functionality.

There are still more things I think we could make it better (not in order):

• Ability to drag-and-drop Pinned Sites.
• Customization to adjust the maximum amount of Pinned Sites.
• Showing recently closed tabs and from previous session.
• Dark theme support for New Tab page.
• Showing frequently visited sites (Top sites) with an option to permanently pin them.
• Ability to edit Pinned Sites.
• Making Pinned Sites looks like a Live Tile, including some basic functionalities like notification badges if the pinned sites allowed push notifications.
• Ability to assign own wallpaper background for New Tab.
• Ability to set Bing image as desktop or lockscreen wallpaper from New Tab itself.
• Search box on New Tab should have same features and UI like the Addressbar/Omnibar, this includes: Showing weather, calculations, facts, etc that Bing already supports.
• Making design aesthetic of pinned sites exactly like a Live Tile for consistency, maybe minus the colours since making it neutral like light gray or dark gray won't conflict to the wallpaper background. Basically still like the current one but sharpening the corners, left aligned titles and making it square instead of rectangle.
  
  

Looking forward for further improvements and kudos to the team working with Edge Chromium project. Cheers!

What I'd like most:

1. More spots for frequently visited pages. I'd like at least a second row (three is a good limit).
2. Turn off the search bar completely, as an option. If we're committed to the search bar, can it mirror the search provider we picked in the address bar search?
3. Turn off news completely, as an option. This might even increase performance on lower-end machines and, for me, it also de-clutters the screen.

A lot of great requests here, MS. Love making the frequent pages = more like Live Tiles & allowing us to re-order them or edit their names.