# Tell me about your web browser's "start" page. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153 "2014-08-22T00:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/21 "2014-08-22T16:53:13Z")
Both browsers (Firefox and Chrome) open to the tabs from my previous session. My actual home page on both browsers is a set of tiles…links to frequently visited websites in Firefox, and useful engineering links in Chrome. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/22 "2014-08-22T16:57:29Z")
My homepage opens to Google. Feels like half the time my reason for opening a browser window is to search for something anyway, so half the time I get to skip a step. The rest of the time I get to type in whatever URL I actually need. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/23 "2014-08-22T17:05:37Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > about:blank This. Having a homepage is like having a cluttered desktop. Bothers the hell outta me. I had to download a Chrome extension to make the new tab page blank. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/24 "2014-08-22T17:15:03Z")
Blank. Had to go fiddle with the Firefox configuration to get rid of that annoying thumbnail page that it wants to display instead of a blank page, too. Very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/25 "2014-08-22T17:17:04Z")
All my browsers are set to Google and have been for years. This is mostly because Google is very light weight, and so loads quickly, but also because, 5 times out of ten, I have opened my browser to Google something. I have been doing this so long that I get momentarily disoriented when working on someone else’s computer and I launch the browser and something else loads instead. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/26 "2014-08-22T17:19:24Z")
The Mozilla Firefox Start Page. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/27 "2014-08-22T17:32:10Z")
In Chrome, the new tab page with my top 8 websites. In Opera, it goes to whatever I had open last. Facebook is generally the first place I go. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/28 "2014-08-22T17:37:20Z")
Google ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/29 "2014-08-22T18:25:16Z")
I use Chrome so Google. I rarely use IE but I took the time to make Google my home page there as well. And got rid of all that Microsoft toolbar crap including the search that defaults to Bing. Don’t use Firefox at all. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/30 "2014-08-22T18:38:07Z")
One browser open My.Yahoo page (yes I live in the mid 2000s). The other opens Chrome’s default page which is Google plus the six pages you visit most. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/31 "2014-08-22T18:48:13Z")
Google. Lightweight and loads quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/32 "2014-08-22T19:09:27Z")
I use Chrome, and I have it set to open whatever tabs were open when I last closed it. My ‘homepage’ is the default Chrome start page, but I rarely see that. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/33 "2014-08-22T19:12:49Z")
about:blank ---
**Author:** ![weef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@weef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/weef)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/34 "2014-08-22T19:15:42Z")
Blank page ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/35 "2014-08-22T19:38:25Z")
> **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/36 "2014-08-22T20:04:03Z")
One tab with TV listings (TitanTV), and a second tab with Google. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/37 "2014-08-22T20:18:20Z")
My personal computer, it’s Google, because it loads quickly. At my work computer, it’s my college’s home page, because it has links to stuff I need to do for work. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/38 "2014-08-22T20:23:16Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Gmail, BBC, Facebook and here I’m not sure I understand. I’m assuming these are the first three places you navigate to. Are any of these set to be your browser’s home page? Do any of them load when you open a new browser window? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/39 "2014-08-22T20:49:51Z")
Varies with machine and browser. The laptop in my man cave opens to Pandora, since that computer is only used for music. Desktop computer at work is google search. Desktop at home is a shared machine and my wife has Firefox set for Yahoo. She also uses IE on that machine and I think MSNBC is the homepage she uses. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153/40 "2014-08-22T21:08:48Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > I’m not sure I understand. I’m assuming these are the first three places you navigate to. > > Are any of these set to be your browser’s home page? > Do any of them load when you open a new browser window? My mom’s computer is set up with two homepages (Facebook and Gmail since those are pretty much the only two sites she uses.) It’s pretty easy to do that in Firefox. I personally just don’t use a homepage at all. I restore my browser session every time I sit down to a computer. Since Firefox won’t actually load the tabs until I click on them, it works well. Now, I don’t keep hundreds of tabs open, and I do regularly prune them down. But my point is that there’s always a page still open when I sit down to my computer. Back when I did use a homepage, it was usually blank. But that was as much for avoiding loading wait times than anything. There’s just never been any one site I want to visit more than 50% of the time. The closest was Yahoo, who had this page you could completely customize to have info from every site in one place. But I think I liked it more for the tech than because it was convenient. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-web-browsers-start-page/696153.md?page=3)