The short answer: NetSurf, because it is the only contemporary web browser that also works under Plan 9, is extremely resource-efficient and is not based on one of the big (= commercial) browser engines.
The long answer: It depends. I like to use
ewwto test the accessibility of a website, but since Mozilla destroyed everything I liked about Firefox in November 2017, I’ve been using Vivaldi as my main browser. Although Vivaldi is based on Chromium, it is quite privacy-friendly, performant and extremely customisable. Unfortunately, some websites do not work very well with NetSurf. (I like to report this as a bug to the website operator. It is fatal that everyone always assumes that everyone wants to load and execute hundreds of KiB of JavaScript).I recommend trying zen (not stable yet) when it releases, it’s has a lot of Vivaldis features, but is based on Firefox and open source
based on Firefox
Ew. No, thank you. Seriously, Mozilla has completely destroyed all trust in Firefox.
and open source
So is Vivaldi.
Why would your trust in Mozilla have anything to do with using this browser? Do you trust google more than Mozilla or why would you use a chromium based browser instead?
Vivaldi is only partially open source https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-browser-open-source/
Why would your trust in Mozilla have anything to do with using this browser?
Browsers based on Firefox are at the mercy of Mozilla. If Mozilla once again delivers a new function that is directed against privacy, those who develop Firefox-based browsers must either deactivate this function or also deliver it. And this is not always clearly documented. And Mozilla has simply acted against my interests too often - I no longer even trust LibreWolf.
(Leaving this aside, I also fail to see any advantage of Zen over Vivaldi.)
- Same thing can be said about Vivaldi, which is based on chromium (Google). Also like you said they (librewolf, zen) can disable privacy invasive features, what they do, just like chromium based browsers do (or do not) remove google tracking
- Zen is open source and has no tracking by default compared to Vivaldi and will continue to support the web request api
I know that this might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t really care about whether the software I use every day is open source or not, given that I rarely need to look into the source code anyway. (Do you?) Is the webRequest API about to be phased out?
I don’t check the source code of something big browsers, that’s a little beyond my understanding, but that’s why there are experts for that.
The webrequest api (or rather the main parts) have already been phased out of chromium, so it’s just a matter of time until Vivaldi rebases to the newest version and gets rid of the api. (I think they said they want to delay the depreciation but acknowledged that it is inevitably coming, probably sooner than later)
Upvoted for NetSurf. I wrote the Amiga frontend for it, and as such it’s my favourite browser on that platform (OS4 anyway - the OS3 build is very unstable)
Awesome (although I never owned an Amiga myself)! Thanks for your work.
Firefox
Floorp
Mullvad Browser and stock Firefox on desktop
Cromite on Android
There is no favorite. There is only the lesser of several evils, and usually it changes after a few years.
Every browser I use causes me to feel some negative reaction
Ya basically the one that works on the most sites while also not being a PITA.
Being older than the internet and having used mosaic, Netscape navigator, IE, Firefox, Chrome, several short lived mobile browsers and tried Opera a few times. Can’t say I have a favourite as any browser I like that becomes popular also tends to become bloated and slow over time.
Firefox and Firefox Focus
Sadly not available on Linux, but Arc has the best tab management paradigm of any browser I’ve tried, by far. Pinned tabs with folders, workspaces, and home urls goes hard.
On the other end of the spectrum, I’m very fond of qtbrowser. If you want a keyboard centered workflow it’s hard to beat.
If you want a keyboard centered workflow it’s hard to beat.
Oh snap, don’t mind if I do
Omg that looks amazing…
Thank you!
Sure does!
Qtbrowser? Or qutebrowser?
Librewolf, Badwolf, Chromium.
Firefox everywhere. It’s not perfect, but is still the closest a browser gets.
Unless I need a PWA on desktop, then Edge (windows) or ungoogled chromium (linux).
NetSurf is closer to a browser.
NetSurf is a very barebones browser. It can fill a niche, but is not a daily driver where other options are available.
Which is not the case on Plan 9.
Huh, TIL NetSurf works on Plan9.
There’s an extension (plus companion application) for running PWAs via Firefox. It has worked well for me.
Floorp has built in optional PWA feature, but is experimental.
LibreWolf on desktop and Mull on Android. Basically Firefox with a little more privacy.
+1
favorite has to be tor though
The overhead and performance hit aren’t worth it for me in general since these browsers are set up to enforce secure connections as long as you don’t override it. And I don’t have to worry about government level website filtering. I do see the value in tunnels for stopping the ISPs from tracking and selling the list of sites you connect to, but I’d rather set up my own proxy for that if I felt it was worth it. It’s easy enough to set up a web proxy on a small, cheap, remote VPS or pay for a trustworthy service with no logging so the ISP would just see that connection and it would be way faster. I don’t see much value in using a Tor browser otherwise anymore now that HTTPS is ubiquitous and secure DNS exists, unless you want to access things not on the public web.
I have been using Vivaldi for about half a year and so far it is working well for me. Originally moved to it due to it’s privacy features, but finding other areas quite useful too such as workspaces
Vivaldi is very functional. But once I understood the wide landscape features of floorp, incl workspaces and all, I was sold to Floorp.
I use Vivaldi as well but every time I update it I need to change one of it’s internal JS files to remove one UI restriction that annoys me: I use two vertical tab bars, one for showing all the tab groups and another for showing the tabs inside the selected group. For some reason Vivaldi limits the width of the two sidebar (combined) to 330px, which is too small for my tastes.
Floorp with Sidebery for vertical tabs and tab groups
Gonna go ahead and be downvote sponge here: Brave. Its privacy features and integrated Adblock have no peer that I’ve found yet, and easy bookmark/history syncing across multiple devices.
Yeah the CEO is a POS. Find me a tech CEO that’s not, besides Meredith Whitaker.
Worried about privacy but uses a crypto scamming software. Weird flex but ok.
You can turn the crypto part off you know. They even tell you how to do it.
The fact that it’s even part of the software is a non starter for me. I don’t trust that company at all.
Fair enough. I agree for what it’s worth—just have yet to find a browser that meets my needs for both usability and privacy. Always happy to explore options and I do sometimes. Just always end up back with Brave because everything else I try ends up annoying me in some way or the other.
Honestly, I don’t get the hate for Brendan Eich, he created JavaScript (awkward design, but it was hugely successful) and co-founded Mozilla, so I think he was a fantastic influence for the open web until someone decided to make a big deal about his private donations. To be clear, I disagree with his political positions, but I don’t think they should have any bearing on his suitability as a leader at Mozilla, and I think Mozilla would be in a much better place had he stayed on as CEO. I like the initiative of Brave Search, and I think, in general, Brave is doing a lot of interesting things.
That said, I use Firefox because I believe strongly in open web standards, and Mozilla is the biggest competitor to Chromium’s rendering and JavaScript engine. I use Brave as a backup browser (i.e. testing for Chromium browsers, random pages that don’t work on FF, etc), but I won’t daily drive it while a credible alternative to Chromium’s rendering engine exists. I’m also disappointed at some of the choices they’ve made (e.g. the BAT thing should’ve been a way to pay to remove ads, not a way for users to get some kind of profit; I’d love to be able to pay a few cents here and there for ad-free content I like).
Firefox for the win.
Firefox and Mull.
I use Firefox on my work computer (macOS) and personal computers (Linux), and Mull on my phone because it’s available on F-Droid.
