Re:Waterfox Browser
by imiric on Thursday May 30, 2019 @09:24AM
(#20050865)
There's an extensive list here[0].
There's even more if you include WebKit-based browsers[1]. Out of those I would strongly recommend surf[2], which is not discontinued despite what Wikipedia says (latest upstream commit was a few months ago[3], but there are many active forks as well).
Shameless plug, but I've used my own fork[4] as main web browser for the past few months, and despite the amount of hacks and limitations, it fits my workflow on Linux quite well. It does involve some external tooling and configuration, and I still keep Firefox and Chromium around for tricky sites, but it's provided a great user experience more often than not.
The key benefit of surf is its simplicity, which we should all strive for as programmers and consumers of technology. The entire browser is under 3KLOC of very readable and well-documented C code. Granted, it relies heavily on WebKitGTK, but it avoids all the mess and complexity of modern browsers, extensions and security concerns simply because of its minimalism.
I would encourage anyone willing to make certain compromises to give it a try and contribute so we can make it easier to use and approachable for a larger and non-technical user base. As web browsers have become the main gateway to the Internet for a vast majority of people, we should actively work towards preventing abuses of user freedoms via aggressive advertising, fueled by corporate greed. We need to take the web back, and simplicity is key.
My goal would be to eventually strip out WebKit entirely, but that's a gargantuan task with no clear way forward, unfortunately. As mentioned in today's Google/ad-blocking thread, we need new and alternative browser engines, outside of the sphere of influence of large corporations.
There's even more if you include WebKit-based browsers[1]. Out of those I would strongly recommend surf[2], which is not discontinued despite what Wikipedia says (latest upstream commit was a few months ago[3], but there are many active forks as well).
Shameless plug, but I've used my own fork[4] as main web browser for the past few months, and despite the amount of hacks and limitations, it fits my workflow on Linux quite well. It does involve some external tooling and configuration, and I still keep Firefox and Chromium around for tricky sites, but it's provided a great user experience more often than not.
The key benefit of surf is its simplicity, which we should all strive for as programmers and consumers of technology. The entire browser is under 3KLOC of very readable and well-documented C code. Granted, it relies heavily on WebKitGTK, but it avoids all the mess and complexity of modern browsers, extensions and security concerns simply because of its minimalism.
I would encourage anyone willing to make certain compromises to give it a try and contribute so we can make it easier to use and approachable for a larger and non-technical user base. As web browsers have become the main gateway to the Internet for a vast majority of people, we should actively work towards preventing abuses of user freedoms via aggressive advertising, fueled by corporate greed. We need to take the web back, and simplicity is key.
My goal would be to eventually strip out WebKit entirely, but that's a gargantuan task with no clear way forward, unfortunately. As mentioned in today's Google/ad-blocking thread, we need new and alternative browser engines, outside of the sphere of influence of large corporations.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers#Blink-bas...
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers#WebKit-ba...
[2]: https://surf.suckless.org/
[3]: https://git.suckless.org/surf/
[4]: https://github.com/imiric/surf