I usually set the new tab of the browsers that I'm using to about:blank, a blank page. I do so for a number of reasons. One, the data displayed here by default may help me out when I want to visit one of the few sites displayed here, but does not do anything but slow down the loading of the page otherwise.

I'm also usually faster when I type the address into the address bar as I just have to enter a couple of characters until it is displayed as a suggestion so that I can hit return to load it.

If you like to use the new tab page as a launch pad for often used websites, you may have compared what different browsers have to offer in this regard. I'm not only talking about the default pages but also about extensions that can modify those pages significantly.

One feature that I came to like recently is the tab grouping feature on the new tab page of the Opera browser. It enables you to group a number of websites into a single tab unit.

Super Start for the Firefox web browser brings that feature to Firefox, and a lot more.

The new tab page is empty after you have installed the extension with the exception of a small row near the top. You can add websites right away to the page if you like, or right-click on the top row first to look what the options of the extension have to offer.

Here you define when the Super Start page is displayed in the browser and how it is displayed in it. You can change the number of sites that are displayed in a line or switch to text only mode which preserves lots of space on the page so that you can add more visible websites to it.

You can also hide the navigation bar or only the search form here, and define which buttons appear when you hover over a link or thumbnail on the page.

The UI customization page lets you add a background image to the page and select how it is displayed here on the page.

To add websites to the page either click on the plus icon in the top nav bar, right-click on the page and select add a new url, or use the import feature if you have already configured the extension on another system and want to import its settings to this one.

The program creates a snapshot of the website in question automatically which you can change to Firefox's native thumbnail creation if you prefer that. This can be defined for all sites individually in the options dialog that is displayed during creation or when you are editing an existing item.

You can alternatively load a custom image from your local system and use this instead to represent the website on the new tab page of the browser.

Existing websites can be reordered by dragging and dropping them to a new position on the screen. To create a group of sites, drop one onto another. You can launch one or all websites of a group in the browser then which is great feature.

Note: The default search engine uses Conduit which has not the best of reputations. It is unclear how deep it is integrated in the app. What we do know for certain is that the default search provider is Conduit. You can modify the search engine in the following way:

Type about:config in the browser's address bar and hit enter. Search for extensions.superstart.searchengine.name. Double-click on the name and enter google to switch to Google search. Alternatively, disable search on the page completely in the UI options.

Verdict

Super Start is a useful extension for Firefox that should appeal to users who want more control over the browser's new tab page. The option to create groups of websites is definitely useful in this regard, as are the customization options that the add-on provides you with.

Advertisement