diff --git a/src/ghtml-webkit.c b/src/ghtml-webkit.c
index 1ef4519..dde8492 100644
--- a/src/ghtml-webkit.c
+++ b/src/ghtml-webkit.c
@@ -347,18 +347,14 @@ static WebKitWebView * _on_create_web_view(WebKitWebView * view,
 {
 	WebKitWebView * ret;
 	Surfer * surfer;
-	Surfer * copy;
 
 	surfer = g_object_get_data(G_OBJECT(data), "surfer");
-	if((copy = surfer_new_copy(surfer)) == NULL)
+	if((surfer = surfer_new(NULL)) == NULL)
 		return NULL;
-	/* FIXME many things:
-	 * - this is a bit ugly (showing and hiding)
-	 * - we may not want history etc to be copied
-	 * - it loads the current URL first */
-	ret = g_object_get_data(G_OBJECT(surfer_get_view(copy)), "view");
+	/* FIXME we may want the history to be copied (and then more) */
+	ret = g_object_get_data(G_OBJECT(surfer_get_view(surfer)), "view");
 	g_signal_connect(G_OBJECT(ret), "web-view-ready", G_CALLBACK(
-				_on_web_view_ready), surfer_get_view(copy));
+				_on_web_view_ready), surfer_get_view(surfer));
 	return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/surfer.c b/src/surfer.c
index fd32c4e..032d5b0 100644
--- a/src/surfer.c
+++ b/src/surfer.c
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ Surfer * _new_do(char const * url)
 	/* notebook */
 	surfer->notebook = gtk_notebook_new();
 	gtk_notebook_set_show_border(GTK_NOTEBOOK(surfer->notebook), FALSE);
-	gtk_notebook_set_show_tabs(GTK_NOTEBOOK(surfer->notebook), FALSE);
+	surfer_open_tab(surfer, NULL);
 	g_signal_connect_swapped(G_OBJECT(surfer->notebook), "switch-page",
 			G_CALLBACK(on_notebook_switch_page), surfer);
 	gtk_box_pack_start(GTK_BOX(vbox), surfer->notebook, TRUE, TRUE, 0);
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ static gboolean _new_idle(gpointer data)
 {
 	SurferIdle * si = data;
 
-	surfer_open_tab(si->surfer, si->url);
+	surfer_open(si->surfer, si->url);
 	free(si->url);
 	free(si);
 	return FALSE;
@@ -800,6 +800,9 @@ void surfer_open_tab(Surfer * surfer, char const * url)
 	if(gtk_notebook_get_n_pages(GTK_NOTEBOOK(surfer->notebook)) > 1)
 		gtk_notebook_set_show_tabs(GTK_NOTEBOOK(surfer->notebook),
 				TRUE);
+	else
+		gtk_notebook_set_show_tabs(GTK_NOTEBOOK(surfer->notebook),
+				FALSE);
 	gtk_widget_show_all(widget);
 }