You need to install an addon and a webserver to have your own html file in the new tab. And even these two things won't give you location bar experience of abou

You need to install an addon and a webserver to have your own html file in the new tab. And even these two things won't give you location bar experience of about:newtab. Location bar won't be focused and the url won't be selected. So you can't just start typing. Mouse gestures don't work on about:newtab, nor on any chrome url (nor do they work on mozilla.com). Mouse gesture are just an example. No addon works on a chrome-url. At least some addons don't work in private-mode, which makes private mode useless. I'm really curious how all this pain does improve security (which was not an issue the last ten or so years).