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ยท 2 min read

Building Start: a private new tab page with no build step

Your new tab page is the screen you see more than any other, and most of them are either empty or full of things you didn't ask for. Start is my answer: a fast, private new tab page that adapts to who you are. No accounts, no tracking, no build step.

Start new tab page with a clock, greeting, quick links, search box with an Ask AI button, and Focus, Tasks, Timer, and Calculator panels
The Developer profile: quick links, a search box with engine shortcuts, and work panels.

One page, sixteen people

A developer, a doctor, and an athlete don't need the same new tab. So instead of one fixed design, Start begins with a profile. Pick one and it sets the colours, layout, quick links, fonts, and tools to match.

There are 16 profiles: Everyday, Office, Developer, Designer, Student, Teacher, Healthcare, Engineer, Athlete, Entertainment, Gamer, Writer, Finance, Cook, Traveler, and Minimal. A profile is a starting point, not a cage. Everything it sets can be changed afterwards.

What you can change

  • 6 layouts: Stack, Centered, Sidebar, Dashboard, Poster, and Minimal.
  • 23 colour palettes, plus Follow the sun, which shifts the page's colours through the day.
  • 4 link styles: Tiles, List, Icons, and Chips.
  • 12 panels: Focus, Tasks, Scratchpad, Schedule, Timer, Counters, Countdown, World clocks, Unit converter, Calculator, Watchlist, and Palette generator.

Search that switches engines as you type

Start supports 22 search engines. You don't pick one from a menu; you type a short prefix and a space. Typing yt lofi beats searches YouTube, and the Developer profile ships with shortcuts like gh, so, mdn, and npm. Without a prefix, it uses your default engine.

An optional AI assistant, on your terms

The search box can also ask an AI. It's off unless you set it up, and it works with any OpenAI-compatible server, so you choose the provider, or run a model yourself.

Why plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Start has no frameworks, no dependencies, and no build step. That was a deliberate choice for something that opens every time you press Ctrl+T:

  • There is no framework to download and boot before the page appears.
  • There are no dependencies to update, audit, or break.
  • The code you read on GitHub is exactly the code that runs in your browser.

Private by default

There's no account to create and nothing is tracked. Your links, tasks, notes, and settings are saved in your browser and stay there.

Try it

Start is open source. Get the code on GitHub, load it in your browser, and pick the profile that sounds like you.