Issue:
The “New Tab” needs better customization settings.
Request:
- Option to make “search.brave.com” (moving forward will be referred to as “Brave Search”) the new tab
- Option to include the “brave stats” to the “Brave Search” new tab
- Option to include “clock” to the “Brave Search” new tab
- Option to include “bookmarks” on “Brave Search” new tab
Case:
Adding the features above allows for a familiar UI experience for Chrome and Edge users. True you can set the default search engine to be Brave and use the address bar for searching. However, many endpoint users still rely on the new tab search option found in Chrome and Edge. Adding the “brave stats” to a new tab based on “Brave Search”, provides new Brave users with data about their web privacy that they never knew about and continues to deliver this feedback to long-time Brave users. One of the biggest draws from Chrome or Edge is the fact that the browser does add so much privacy without any true end-user effort. The addition of bookmarks on the new tab page is available in most common browsers Safari, Chrome, Edge, etc. It would be great to see in brave. Chrome, Edge, and even Safari are using extensions to match many of the features native to Brave and they are catching up. Brave needs to include some of the familiar UI experiences that users are comfortable with within Brave.
Nice to have:
While it is by no means needed allowing for the usage of personal new tab images would be nice. The “UTab” extension does allow end-users to make a lot of customizations. However, their data collection practices completely undermine the purpose of using a browser like Brave.
Case Study Example:
“Pure Andriod” versus “iOS”; “iOS” is so locked down that you are limited to what you can do and for the “average” person this is perfect not a lot of thinking to do, or items to tinker with, while “Pure Andriod” by comparison is monolithic. There is little to nothing that an IT pro can not do with a “Pure Andriod” device. Why is “iOS” king in the mobile field? It is the UI experience! The system is so easy to use that infants can easily navigate them. IT pros want power and can handle complexity, “sheople” want familiarity and simplicity.
Conclusion:
Let’s be honest the Chromium architecture is the backbone of most if not all modern browsers, so with everyone using the same toolkit it does come down to “innovate or die”. Brave has done and is continuing to do some great work. Unfortunately, it appears as if the project is losing ground to its competition by being too exclusive in its target market. Items like BAT, CRYPTO Trading, WALLET are great features but the masses are not familiar with these things well enough yet. In personal polls, I have done in my professional environment and personal environment, when speaking to the “average” end-user about browsers it is only Chrome, Safari, or Edge that they are comfortable using. When I ask the same question to IT engineers and technicians 85%-90% of them will mention Brave as their go-to and Edge or Chrome as a backup (used primarily to test a 404 error). I know the request to allow the “New Tab” to be customized to include the UI of “Brave Search” and retain many of the default dashboard features seems very small but I promise you it is not. I believe Brave can take the top spot in browsing, it just needs to stick to its roots in privacy and deliver a better UI experience for the masses.
I hope I have made a clear enough case for my ask and would love to see it in an upcoming release of Brave.