Modern browsers have a wide range of internal commands. Some of them show basic information, others report errors or compatibility issues, and then there are those that unlock advanced configuration sections. Among them all, however, is the so-called about:blank, known colloquially as aboutblank. Today we'll explore its origins and what we can do to take advantage of it.
What is aboutblank?
Some sites have suggested in the past that aboutblank is an internal command exclusive to certain browsers, but that is not really the case. Aboutblank (read as about:blank for the exact command) is part of the URI schemes (acronym for Uniform Resource Identifier) that were registered and standardized by IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the same agency that assigns IP addresses (among other things) on a global scale.
The official scheme is about, i.e., the first half. Its purpose is to “present product information and other internal information.” Over time, each browser has implemented different modifiers for about, but if there are two commands we can call generic, they are “about:”, which shares detailed data about the browser and its environment, and about:blank itself, whose only job is to load a blank page.
In the prehistory of the Internet, before Windows XP and broadband, one of the first things we learned was to use aboutblank as the homepage in browsers so they would load faster. This is no longer necessary, but some of us never lost the habit. And no matter what isolated warnings you might find on the Web, aboutblank is not a virus. Certain malware variants can hijack the browser's homepage and pass it off as aboutblank, but that doesn't mean the original command is malicious.
How to take advantage of aboutblank with Chrome extensions
From a technical standpoint there is nothing to do “about” aboutblank for a simple reason: if we modify it, it stops being aboutblank. In fact, modern browsers try to replace it with new “new tab pages” by adding images, shortcuts, and widgets. What is within our reach is to use aboutblank to modify that behavior, and all we need is a compatible extension.
New Tab Redirect Plus!
The job of New Tab Redirect Plus! is to replace the new tab page with whatever you want. In this case, aboutblank would just be one alternative, and nothing stops you from using other compatible about commands.
New Tab about:blank
The extension hasn't received an update in more than five years, but its function remains intact. Every time you open a new tab, the traditional chrome://newtab will be replaced with an about:blank.
Blank New Tab
A much younger option, with just a handful of users, but its developer adds a pinch of nostalgia by explaining his reasons for creating the extension, citing classics such as Netscape Navigator.
In summary
Aboutblank is not a modern invention; it has been around for decades, it is part of a standard, and you can take advantage of it to “clean up” the loading of new tabs in your browser. Some users swear that extended use of aboutblank helps reduce memory consumption in Chrome. Why don't you give it a try…?
