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Get a better ‘New Tab’ page in Chrome with Speed Dial’s wall-to-wall thumbnail bookmarks

February 25, 2012 By 6 Comments

If you’ve been using Chrome for a while you may have grown fond of the ‘New Tab’ page, which displays frequently visited sites as thumbnails. But if you’ve wished that you could push the New Tab page a little further then check out this Chrome extension. Speed Dial lets you: add more than 8 websites to the page, choose permanent websites rather than the most visited, and preserve your bookmarks beyond a Chrome cache cleanup (in contrast to the ‘New Tab’ page).

Moreover, Speed Dial can add a few useful features, such as a Google search box, a bookmarks or recently accessed sites bar, and even the ability to customize site icons or the background image.

I have gotten quite used to the ‘New Tab’ page in Chrome and I will confess that I have been looking for something like this for a while, if only because I wanted more than 8 thumbnails on the page. So far, I am really liking Speed Dial.

Speed Dial Screenshot1

One thing I really like about Speed Dial is the ability to add sites right from the address bar, via the little Speed Dial icon (see screenshot below).

Speed Dial Screenshot2

Moreover, the options page provides a large degree of customization options, including how many columns and rows, the distance that thumbnails should have from each other, the color scheme, and other options.

Speed Dial Screenshot3

But here’s how Speed Dial can get even better:

  • The ability to use a LOCAL wallpaper background or site icon. Currently, Speed Dial will only accept URLs for these
  • Improved screenshot grabbing for some sites; specifically, Speed Dial doesn’t seem to do very well with sites that require logins.
  • An apps section, that simply replicates the apps section from Chrome’s ‘New Tab’ would be good.

The verdict: I love this one. If you like the ‘New Tab’ page in Chrome but would like it to be more flexible, get Speed Dial; you will not be disappointed.

Get Speed Dial here.


 
 
 
Samer Kurdi

Samer Kurdi

Has been reviewing software since 2006 when he started Freewaregenius.com
Samer Kurdi

@freewaregenius

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February 25, 2012
Samer Kurdi
6
  • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

    Funny thing is Firefox has a new tabs page as of Firefox 12 which shows your 9 most visited sites and it already lets you delete or pin them to the page. Wish you could specify how may pages to store but we will see if someone doesn’t make an add on to do that or if Mozilla doesn’t add the option.Firefox has a new Homepage coming soon as well. It’s scheduled for Firefox 13 but we will see.

  • kesongpinoy

    speed dial 2 is so much better, faster, and more customizable. it even has a pro version which can sync to mobile devices

  • Evarist

    I first used Speed Dial, but then changed that to Speed Dial 2 (Pro Meanwhile) for the same reasons as kesongpinoy mentioned.

    BTW, while I am writing: nice and useful site!

  • http://www.moshblog.me.uk Mosh

    If you install Speed Dial, make sure you *don’t* tick the “make available in Incognito” button. If you do, then the last few pages you closed down in incognito will also be shown on the Speed Dial page in your non-incognito windows.

    Don’t ask how I noticed this ;)

  • Samer

    Thanks to all of you who have pointed out that there is a “Speed Dial 2″. I will confess that I did not know it existed, and in fact am surprised that that fact is not plastered all over the Speed Dial page.

    And you are right, many aspects are improved (although Speed Dial 1 is a solid product in its own right). But I do like that Speed Dial 2 is a full-fledged folder based bookmarks manager.

  • Mark Elkins

    Opera speed dial does this already. You can have 20 or more customized links complete with personally set descriptions. Simply by pressing my right mouse button, dragging my mouse down and releasing, I have my speed dial tab and can click on whatever link I want and go.

    At the end of the list is a blank spot with a plus. You just click to add another site. All browsers should work like that.