Often I wish...

Silver Contributor

Often I wish NTP could be Bing.  It can be made to be so 'clean' by not showing menu bar or news & interests.  And, the photo does change daily.  And, the NTP flag isn't reliable, but, Bing is/will be, always, available.

BingNTP.jpg

Cheers,
Drew
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5 Replies

@Drew1903  Drew, I would like to see Edge Chromium settings permit us to specify a custom page (in my case Bing) when a new tab is opened, just as you would.  But you can get close by adjusting NTP settings.

 

These are  my settings:

 

NEW TAG PAGE.jpg

 

This is what the NTP looks like using those settings:

 

NEW TAB PAGE #2.jpg

 

The result is close, if not identical, to the Bing page:

 

NEW TAB PAGE #3.jpg

 

Obviously, this workaround is not what we want -- the ability to change settings so that the NTP allows us to specific a specific URL (e.g. Bing or Google or something else) as the page that opens when we open an NTP.  But the workaround is better than nothing.

 

It is also typical Windows.  The challenge I face when setting up Windows 10 and its products (I most recently did a clean install yesterday on one of my computers) is that it takes a lot of work to get rid of all the junk (performance-hogging visual effects, notifications, legacy components, unwanted bloatware, and so on) and create a minimal, sparse, efficient working environment. 

 

Cleaning up the NTP is Item #67 out of 71 items on the "Dejunkify Windows" checklist.  It is at least near the end of the list.

 

@Drew1903  I have a simple thought:  If folks viewing this thread want Edge Chromium to have an "Open a specific page" option for the New Tab Page (similar to the way in which Edge Chromium allows users to specify specific URL's on Startup), then put in a Feedback (Smiley) request for the feature.  If enough folks do that, then the request may draw the Edge Team's attention and make it onto the to do list.

@tomscharbach 

Yes, Tom, close, but, not identical is right.  I experimented a lot way back with the possibilities & Bing is best as far as what results you can have.  And, I use the same settings as you for NTP.  Cannot get it as 'clean' as Bing.com.  No point talking about the NTP flag anymore & it never changed its picture, anyway which, was a point against it.  Plus, with Bing can actually use it FULLY. NTP can search (& does use Bing), but, actual Bing.com can do heaps more, visual search & more & more.  There is no plan to do anything w/ NTP which, I think, is sad.  Can muck about w/ Start-up page, but, not NTP and that's a shame, IMO.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Drew1903  "There is no plan to do anything w/ NTP which, I think, is sad.  Can muck about w/ Start-up page, but, not NTP and that's a shame, IMO."

 

Well, the way to change that is to push back though Microsoft Insider feedback, urging Microsoft to allow users to select a custom URL for the NTP if that is what they want to do.   Browsers are supposed to work for users, not the other way around.

 

I suspect that almost everyone who uses a browser would prefer to have the NTP open up their default search page.  In my case (and yours, it seems) Bing, but others may use another search engine -- Google, DuckDuckGo, whatever.  It is just nuts to be forced to open new tabs populated with a concocted page that nobody (much) wants.

 

I've put in my feedback, and I encourage you and others to do the same.  Microsoft will change direction if pushed hard enough.

@tomscharbach 

I meant to say in my other note, Tom, that I, myself, have sent Feedback about this, already, long ago & more than once.  Plus, talking about it with MS staff.  When I had said I agree with you, that included that people should keep speaking out about it.  It IS true that if the Team has enough from enough people, things are (more) likely to happen.  They react or act when there is a wide-spread show of commonality.

Cheers,
Drew
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PS:  For anyone following the action, Fast Track has a new Build today, 18990 & reminder, Bug Bash starts tomorrow, the 25th.