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Feature #289

open

Create a local homepage

Added by Soren Stoutner almost 6 years ago. Updated 9 months ago.

Status:
New
Priority:
3.x
Start date:
05/28/2018
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:

Description

The local home page would be set as the default, likely contain the icon for Privacy Browser, and would not invoke any network traffic. It could be programmed to display when the URL is empty. Users, of course, could set the default home page to be whatever they like.

This would separate Privacy Browser a bit from DuckDuckGo, which is, I think, a good direction to go.

Actions #1

Updated by Soren Stoutner over 5 years ago

  • Priority changed from 2 to 3.x
Actions #2

Updated by Soren Stoutner almost 5 years ago

  • Subject changed from Create a local home page to Create a local homepage

Obviously, I have already separated Privacy Browser from DuckDuckGo, as described at https://www.stoutner.com/new-default-homepage-and-search-engine/.

Actions #3

Updated by Soren Stoutner almost 5 years ago

This feature will also include settings for how new tabs are handled. Something along the lines of having the local homepage open for all new tabs, using a user specified homepage for all tabs, or having secondary tabs open blank, like they now do.

Actions #4

Updated by Soren Stoutner almost 5 years ago

This issue is related to https://redmine.stoutner.com/issues/446.

Actions #5

Updated by Prince Cooper over 1 year ago

Any local page or a set homepage is miles better than an empty new tab if you ask me.

Actions #6

Updated by ask low 9 months ago

Well, at least an option to spawn homepage for a new tab, would help. Because each time I spawn new tab, I have to access home, which is 2 steps.

Actions #7

Updated by Soren Stoutner 9 months ago

I think that is exactly right. Users should have the option to display whatever homepage they like on all the new tabs, although that will probably not be the default.

Part of the purpose of this feature will be to make it so that there are no network requests made from Privacy Browser by default until the user specifically requests they be made. So, the default will be that only a local page is loaded.

As a funny side note, years ago I had a user load Privacy Browser into a virtual machine that tracked all network traffic and then report that there was a security problem because when launched, even when there was no user interaction, requests were being sent to Amazon. Turns out that what had happened was that the default search engine at the time had moved their infrastructure to AWS (Amazon Web Services). So, there was nothing particularly nefarious about it, but it made me really start thinking about getting rid of all network requests until the user initiates them.

Actions #8

Updated by ask low 9 months ago

That's crazy. Never heard of a private search engine using a corporate service. Nefarious.

Actions #9

Updated by Soren Stoutner 9 months ago

That was DuckDuckGo. They were the first default search engine in Privacy Browser, but that changed a little bit after that experience.

https://www.stoutner.com/new-default-homepage-and-search-engine/

Since that time, DuckDuckGo has moved their infrastructure to Microsoft's Azure.

https://www.stoutner.com/switching-from-startpage-to-mojeek/

Actions #10

Updated by ask low 9 months ago

Although DDG is very slow. Startpage experience without js is a mess. The current search engine that I found amazing without scripting, is searx. Unfortunately the results sometimes are quirky and less appetizing. But still worth it when the instance I choose, is fast and smooth.

For now, an empty new tab is okay, as I found sliding from tab strip opens bookmark pane, which is useful.

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