Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to personalize this page with weather or scorecards or whatever you want?
For this purpose, Google has introduced a code-free tool called Tab Maker for Chrome to help you create customized New Tab extensions. So, let’s look at what Tab Maker is and how to use it.
What Is Google’s Tab Maker?
Tab Maker is a product of Google that allows you to create extensions to customize and enhance Chrome’s New Tab page. The tool facilitates discovering something new every time you open a new tab.
Traditionally, professional coders develop these kinds of extensions. With Tab Maker, you can easily make your New Tab extension without any technical knowledge or coding ability.
The developers of the tool have created it with non-developers in mind. It guides through along the way to help you conveniently make your customized extensions. The best part is there’s no code required, the tool allows you to design visually.
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What Features Does Google’s Tab Maker Have?
Tab Maker is user-friendly and straightforward. It supports different content types such as text, links, images, and GIFs. You can add links to your favorite newsfeed, and it will display the latest content from those feeds every time you open a new tab.
To make the process easier for you, Tab Maker provides templates too. Tab Maker also integrates with Google Sheets to determine the content that appears in the extension. You can manage and continuously update the extension through the Google Sheets file.
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You can make your first extension using Tab Maker in five simple steps. You can export these extensions in a compressed file to share with friends, or upload them to the Chrome Extensions Web Store.
How to Create a New Tab Extension Using Tab Maker
Here’s what to do to make your customized New Tab extension with Tab maker:
1. Choose a Template for the New Tab Extension
The first step is to choose a suitable template according to your requirements. There are a bunch of templates available. Some are even optimized for dual features, such as adding multiple scorecards or more than one city for the weather.
2. Add Your Desired Content to the Extension
After choosing the template of your desire, you have to add images, links, or text to the Google Sheets file by clicking on Add Your Content. You can also check sample content to get an idea of the process.
Once you open Google Sheets, the first task is to copy the sheet. After that, you can fill in your copied sheet with images, GIFs, links, text, or numbers. Add as many rows of content as you like.
As the sheet is autosaved to your Google account, you can return to it anytime to start working from where you left. Note that the guidelines recommend not to mix images and GIFs with text in the same column.
To add a photo or GIF, you can copy the link to the image and paste it into the relevant column. The same applies to hyperlinks of your news feed or weather source.
Lastly, publish your spreadsheet by going into File > Publish to the Web. Keep in mind that from the web dropdown options, be sure to select Comma-Separated Values (.csv).
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And from the Entire Document dropdown options, select Add Content to This Sheet. Lastly, click on Publish, and a link will be generated, which you can now paste into the Tab Maker page.
3. Adjust the Body of Your New Tab Extension
Next, you can adjust the body of your new tab page. You can edit background colors, image properties, and page padding.
This step is crucial because it will determine the look of your new tab page. Be sure to take your time and fine-tune the adjustments. Once you’re done, click on Next.
4. Edit the Block Elements of Your Extension
The next step is to edit each block element by clicking on the one you wish to select. Here, you can edit font, font size, height, style, and other similar features.
As with the previous step, editing the block elements will also affect the appearance and readability of your new tab page. You can go for a trial and error approach if you are unsure.
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5. Create Your New Tab Extension’s Final File
In the last step, give a name to your extension. Add a description for it, such as mentioning its primary purpose. You can also assign a unique icon to your extension.
The extension will have this name, icon, and description if you choose to publish it to the Chrome Extension Web Store. You have two options once you’re done: start over, or download the extension in a ZIP file.
How Can You Use Your Custom New Tab Extension?
After making your extension and downloading it in a ZIP file, simply go to Extensions inside the Chrome settings. And from there, turn on Developer Mode.
Activate Developer Mode in the top-right corner of the extensions page. You can get there by entering chrome://extensions in the search bar. After that, click on the Load Unpacked extension. Select your ZIP unpacked extension file. Start using your first self-made extension.
Create Customized New Tab Extensions With This Tool
Tab Maker is a unique development by Google. Instead of being limited to the new tab page extensions that you can find on the Chrome Web Store, you can now make your own. And, as you have seen, you don’t need any technical knowledge.
