Say Goodbye to Cold Session Tools Like Toby, Create Beautiful and Personalized New Tab Experience

Let Visual Language Take on the Role of Memory

Traditional session management tools like OneTab, Toby, and SessionBuddy follow a "grid + title" design approach, which is indeed simple but ignores humans' dependence on color, shape, and whitespace for memory. While these tools excel at saving memory and reducing browser resource usage, they often create sterile, utilitarian interfaces that lack personality. In BoTab's new tab page design, we first established a personalized color and theme system, supplemented with light gradients and subtle lighting effects. We also generate unique shapes based on favicon combinations from tab groups, transforming abstract link collections into concrete "symbols." In every interview, users called these favicons "memory anchors" because they help their minds quickly return to corresponding work contexts.

Break Complex Tasks into Phased Storyboards

Beyond color, we need structure. BoTab supports the Storyboard approach commonly used by creative teams, breaking a tab group into three horizontal sections: "Preparation," "Execution," and "Wrap-up," allowing users to drag pages to different stages. In designer review sessions, this structure helps them more easily identify task bottlenecks: if the "Wrap-up" area is still filled with incomplete tools, it means the task hasn't been truly finished. For product operations teams, this Storyboard can also carry SOPs—they place requirement documents in the "Preparation" area, launch backends in the "Execution" area, and review templates in the "Wrap-up" area. Tab pages thus become dynamic workflow panels rather than static link collections.

Find the Optimal Balance Between Performance and Aesthetics

Creating beautiful interfaces risks slowing down browsers. Through virtualization rendering and lazy loading strategies, we control initial load time to within 280ms, 37% faster than mainstream extension averages. Graphic elements and custom backgrounds are compressed as WebP and vector combinations, while CSS variables drive theme switching to ensure smooth GPU rendering. More importantly, we provide advanced users with two modes: "Clean Mode" and "Immersive Mode"—the former retains core information for quick retrieval, while the latter presents full-screen backgrounds and visual cards, perfect for inspiring creativity during planning. This way, different user contexts are all accommodated.

Data and Cases Prove the Value of Personalized New Tab Pages

We invited 212 users from product, marketing, education, and freelance communities in our Beta program for a 6-week experience experiment. These users had previously used tools like OneTab, Toby, SessionBuddy, and other session management extensions. Results showed:

• 76% of participants said the new tab page made them more willing to actively clear their browser after tasks, because the cost of restoring context was almost zero.
• 68% of participants began spontaneously creating themed colors and backgrounds in the second week, even uploading personal photos, proving that aesthetic participation enhances sense of belonging.
• 84% of users who had previously relied on OneTab for memory management reported that BoTab's visual approach helped them recover work context 40% faster than traditional text-based session tools.

Return Tab Pages to Those Who Actually Use Them

We believe browser new tab pages should be like an accessible studio—with appropriate lighting, familiar objects, and workflow panels that match your rhythm. Unlike OneTab's purely functional approach or Toby's rigid categorization, BoTab's goal is to let everyone feel "this is my space" the moment they open their browser. Beauty isn't showing off—it's helping the brain quickly switch contexts; personalization isn't a burden—it's letting the system automatically understand your work style. While SessionBuddy focuses on session recovery, we go beyond that to create an inspiring workspace that motivates productivity. Next, we'll continue refining multi-device sync, team-shared templates, and cross-tool integration to ensure that no matter which device you open BoTab on, you'll continue the same elegant experience.

Want to know how to use BoTab to create your own new tab page? Download now or contact our team to make your browser your most trusted work partner again.