Awesome New Tab Page (aNTP) is a Google Chrome add-on that turns the new tab page (NTP) into a metro-like browser home screen. In addition to icons that lead to your favorite websites, this add-on offers dynamic widgets that instantly update you on what's going on. Your Awesome New Tab Page is fully customizable, meaning you can change the content, positioning, size, color, and type of content.

The aNTP add-on is based on the idea that icons no longer live up to the needs of the users and the ability of the technology. Hence they should be complemented with dynamic and interactive widgets. While widgets are potentially resource intensive, aNTP does add value by allowing you to quickly see and access what is important to you whenever you open a NTP.

Take The Tour

When you first open a new tab after installing Awesome New Tab Page, you can take a short tour, which explains the add-on step by step. Simply click the Next button in the top left tile.

Unlock & Customize

After you have gained an overview by taking the short tour, go ahead and click the unlock icon to unlock your aNTP. Now you can customize your NTP. Start by deleting the tour and any other tiles you have no interested in.

While your the page is unlocked, you can click the apps and widgets icons and drag&drop installed Chrome apps and aNTP widgets onto your new tab page.

Install & Add Widgets

Awesome New Tab Page lives and breathes through widgets. There are a few stock widgets that come pre-installed, but they are not very exciting. However, the creators of aNTP encourage developers to enhance aNTP by creating additional widgets. You can find these on the Chrome Web Store.

Here are 7 widgets I recommend installing:

• Checker Plus for Gmail
• Google Maps Search Widget
• Wolfram Alpha Widget
• Wikipedia Search Widget
• Bigger Notes

Note that you need to open a new tab and then load the widgets window to see all recently installed widgets.

To add installed widgets to your NTP, click the widgets icon and drag&drop widgets to the NTP.

Adjust Settings

Click the configure icon to adjust minor settings, such as the background color or which country to use for the stock Amazon shortcut. There seems to be a little bug with the color picker, as it doesn't disappear automatically. Close the tab and open a new one to get rid of it.

Note that you can save your settings or restore a backup using the Import/Export button.

Conclusion

Awesome New Tab Page is a fun and easy way to create a personalized NTP in Chrome. It's intuitive, functional, visually appealing, and comes with a nice selection of widgets. The drawback, however, is that dynamic widgets can be resource hogs, which should be kept in mind.

Are you looking for alternative start pages for Chrome? Maybe you'll find the right fit here - Bring Some Life Into Your Browser With These 5 Brilliant Start-Page Extensions.

Awesome New Tab Page was recently added to our list of the 101 Best Chrome Extensions. What do you think of it? What widgets or features would make it even better?