A simpler Chrome new tab

Originally published by Refind on July 14th 2017 1,101 reads

@refindRefind

We’ve simplified our Chrome new tab extension. It shows you 2–4 new links from the people and interests you follow. And when you scroll, links get marked as seen and you dive into the full experience.

Why the change?

When you open a new tab, you most often want to navigate to a site — not get distracted with a bunch of things. Yet, our new tab extension is very convenient to learn about new links on the go, and to scan your feed in a break or at the end of the day.

Many loved it the way it was, but sometimes we get asked for a simpler version. Yesterday we got another such request, so we implemented a quick prototype: it showed only one row of links, with a button to go to refind.com. We tested it ourselves for a few hours and asked our ambassadors which version they preferred. The result:

• 66% preferred the classic version,
• 33% preferred the simple version,
• 1% wanted a mix.

So, we went for a mix: only one row of links (no menu, etc.), but when you scroll, links get marked as seen and you dive into the full experience.

Marked as seen

• More links show up when you hover and/or scroll
• The first row of links gets marked as seen as soon as you scroll
• All other rows get marked as seen as soon as you scroll past them (the colored progress bar on the top)

Give it a spin

Get our Chrome New Tab extension and give it a spin: