I feel like there is no web browser with a sane default configuration that I can recommend to other people. All browsers are preconfigured in a way that harms the privacy of their users or include services that no one wants such as Pocket and BAT.

Here are my problems with some popular browsers.

  • Mozilla Firefox: Pocket integration, no ad-blocking without extensions.

  • Brave: Everything related to crypto. Also its start page is horrible.

  • Chromium: No ad-blocking without extensions and soon Manifest v3 will cripple all content blockers.

Now, these suboptimal defaults wouldn’t be such a big problem if the configuration files were easy to backup and restore and respected the XDG base directory specification.

  • @words_number@programming.dev
    23•2 years ago

    What’s wrong with pocket integration?Nobody forces you to use it. Apart from that it stores user data e2e encrypted, mozilla has no access to your data (as opposed to chromes sync functionality). Imho, a browser should not block some content by default. But ad-blocking must be easy to enable/install. All of that’s the case in FF so I see no reason not to recommend it.

  • @InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20•2 years ago

    You’re going to be spending a lot of time with your browser, make it a 2 way dialog, customize.

    Firefox has an extremely vibrant extension ecosystem and seems to overall be doing well, but see what works for you.

    • @the_crab_man@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      -11•2 years ago

      And I’d have to do that manually for every computer on which I install the browser. I can’t just tell someone to install a browser and use it as is, there are always several additional steps required after install to have a decent experience. This is especially a problem for people who are not tech savvy.

  • @stillwater@lemm.eeEnglish
    45•2 years ago

    This list looks like:

    Firefox: comes with different candy than I like but will get me the candy I want if I ask

    Brave: has candy, but stares at me uncomfortably and asks me to lick everything slowly

    Chromium: comes with candy I don’t like and I’m pretty sure is going to kill me

    • @the_crab_man@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      -4•2 years ago

      No browser will ever tick ALL your boxes.

      Why not? Is it that hard to NOT include bloatware in your browser and respect XDG Base Directory? As for content blocking, the code is already there because extensions make use of it, just integrate it into the browser UI and use uBlock Origin’s block lists.

      • @HughJanus@lemmy.ml
        2•2 years ago

        Is it that hard to NOT include bloatware in your browser

        I mean obviously it is, yes. If you want to build a good browser, that takes resources. How else would you monetize it? God knows no one is paying directly for a web browser…

  • danielfgomEnglish
    4•2 years ago

    You should REALLY try Vivaldi.

    Best browser for desktop and mobile. Privacy respecting and great onboarding, plus very versatile and powerful if you want that.

    Or keep it simple. They let you choose.

    https://vivaldi.com/

    • @poinck@lemm.ee
      2•2 years ago

      Can confirm, I only configured some visual changes, font, minimal font size and alike.

      Only problem I have with it is, an increasing number of webpages tell me, my browser is outdated and rarely some pages don’t work correctly.

      I am thinking of moving to Epiphany (gnome-web) some day, but I may start missing the vim-like interaction with qutebrowser.

      • @milo128@lemm.ee
        2•2 years ago

        you might be able to fix webpages telling you you’re outdated by changing your useragent string.

      • @slamphear@lemmy.world
        4•2 years ago

        Have you updated Qutebrowser recently? It was running a pretty ancient version of Chromium under the hood before the 3.0 release (2 weeks ago), but it’s up-to-date now.

  • CamEnglish
    1•2 years ago

    True.

    I wish someone can fork Brave on desktop and mobile and take out all the other stuff. And if someone could fork firefox for desktop and mobile and make it a hardened browser out of the box.