-After Google changed the new tab page of Chrome to an ugly array of circular icons (around mid 2016), I looked around for a better new tab page extension. The best I could find was [Start Clean](https://startclean.github.io/), but it had several issues (I don't remember exactly - I think there were various bugs). A fork of Start Clean by [shadowfacts](https://github.com/shadowfacts/Chrome-Extension) fixed some small issues and added the favicons which was rather nice, but for some reason (???) this fork makes links open in a new tab.
+After Google changed the new tab page of Chrome to an ugly array of circular icons (around mid 2016), I looked around for a better new tab page extension. This project started as a fork of a fork: it is based off [Start Clean](https://startclean.github.io/) with the addition of favicons by [shadowfacts](https://github.com/shadowfacts/Chrome-Extension).
-Initially I forked shadowfacts' version to make links open in the current tab. That worked fine for a while, but I have since rewritten the extension to have much more flexibility in adding/removing links and categories. The UI is also much improved. Here is a summary of the changes I've made:
+Compared to the original version, there is much more flexibility in managing links and categories, and the UI is much improved. Here is a summary of the changes I've made:
* Links open in the current tab
* Background, foreground and hover colours are configurable
The sorting of links is managed by [SortableJS](https://github.com/SortableJS/Sortable). If I was writing this from scratch again I would use native HTML5 drag and drop, but I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it. I did end up implementing HTML5 drag and drop for the movement of columns though.
-Favicons for websites are obtained from Google's S2 API. One day I might upgrade to [Favicon Kit](https://faviconkit.com/) which is less centralised. This is the only external object loaded, but it triggers some scary warning in Chrome which says that it can "change data on all websites you visit" etc.
+Favicons for websites are obtained from Google's S2 API. One day I might upgrade to [Favicon Kit](https://faviconkit.com/) which is less centralised. This is the only external object loaded, but it triggers a scary warning in Chrome which says it can "change data on www.google.com".
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## Installation
You can still install it as a local extension in developer mode:
-1. Go to <chrome://extensions> and turn on developer mode (top right)
-2. Download <a href="../plain/build/newtab.crx" download>build/newtab.crx</a> (make sure you save it, don't install it straight away - see below)
+1. Go to `chrome://extensions` and turn on developer mode (top right)
+2. Download <a href="/newtab.git/tree/build/newtab.crx" download="/newtab.git/tree/build/newtab.crx">build/newtab.crx</a> ("Save link as...", don't install it straight away - see below)
3. Drag the file onto the extensions page to install it
Opening the crx file using Chrome's default file handler causes a "CRX_REQUIRED_PROOF_MISSING" error because Chrome now only allows extensions obtained from their store. However, you can drag and drop it onto the extensions page and that seems to bypass the verification. More info [here](https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/3125155?hl=en).
## Building
-For the time being you can run the extension as a local "unpacked" extension, but if you make modifications you may like to make a distributible crx file.
+For the time being you can run the extension as a local "unpacked" extension, but if you make modifications you may like to make a distributible crx file. You can do this with the included build script - just run `make all` in the root directory. You'll need your own private key in newtab.pem in the root directory (Chrome can generate this from the Extensions page).