And what features and/or technologies you’d rather not see in a web browser
Lets make this interesting: you can imagine features ( there’s no wrong answers ) , its not just about features that you already saw in other browsers
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built-in adblocker
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ability to have JavaScript / sound / image loading turned off by default but with a whitelist of sites that can run / play / load them
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built-in secure password manager
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open-source, natch
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native ssh and ftp
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a button that autogenerates a metadata-free, archived link to the current page
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bring back flash
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can open any folder of folders of images as a slideshow
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feeds false metadata to sites trying to fingerprint the user
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rejects / autodeletes all but whitelisted cookies
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built-in tamagotchi / virtual pets
- built-in adblocker
- built-in secure password manager
- built-in tamagotchi / virtual pets
I believe most would prefer a modular approach with a well built extension and addon framework.
- can open any folder of folders of images as a slideshow
- native ssh and ftp
I’d prefer the web browser to be good at web browsing. Excellent software already exists that does all of that.
- bring back flash
Dear god no
I really just want web browsers to die, and be replaced by one of the slimmed down options like gemini, gopher, or some markdown viewer.
The web just keeps getting increasingly bloated and ad-ridden, and filled with popups. Web browsers are as complex as entire operating systems now, so only 2 orgs (google and mozilla) have the resources and expertise to build a browser, and mozilla might throw in the towel eventually, leaving the internet as one big google ad.
IE move viewing of mostly static content into these simple variants like gemini, and move dynamic things to local apps with API access.
that’s a quite pessimistic stance, yes I do agree that web browsers are complexe and hard to maintain, but they can do more than viewing websites, you can play games, draw art, video chat, PDF viewing and editing, you can do a lot with just one app… that’s the beauty of Web browsers… The problem is in the Ad business model…
they can do more than viewing websites
The question is: should they? There is a larger philosophical divide about whether software tools should be small and purpose-built, or monolithic. Having one do-it-all tool can be convenient but also creates a huge amount of overhead and complexity.
I go back and forth myself. I love the convenience of monolithic tools, but miss the way a small, purpose-built tool can really do its job well.
One of the best cases for building a versatile tool, is accessibility to less privileged populations, for example people who can’t efford to have a reliable Internet because of their shady ISPs, they need a browser that renders web content as fast as possible, and also because they can’t afford to download apps due to slow internet speeds, Flatpaks could take gigabyte of HDD space and you have to update them later, which is painful in other parts of the world
Even if the user had a reliable Internet and solid hardware, maybe they’re a security minded individual, and want to keep their app installs to a minimum. To them many apps are considered bloat and that’s dangerous.
I think the difficulty lies in wisely choosing what features to include, before your users start asking : hey, do we really need that ? Or : who uses that ?
that’s why listening to feedback is so important
Dark theme and accessible color contrast enforced by default.
If the site owner makes stupid choices, my browser should ignore them.
Edit: And an automatic switch to light theme if I decode to print something, obviously. I wasn’t raised in a barn.
- Tab-organisation features (e.g. stacking, trees)
- Synchronised history - so you can find something you were looking at on your phone on your desktop or vice-versa
- Containers (Firefox) are great
- Full-page screenshot (Firefox) is very handy
‘Multi-Account Containers’: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
With it, you can open tabs in different ‘containers’, which have their own set of cookies, etc… So, for example, you can be logged into two accounts for the same website, just in different containers, or keep all your shopping accounts in one container (and set those sites to always open in that container) to reduce tracking and targeting.
As an addition to the translation tool (context menu in Firefox) it would be nice to have a conversion tool for the conversion of temperatures and lengths. I know there are addons for this purpose, but last time i checked they weren’t good or they were a hassle to use. Opera nailed it a few years ago with a little pop-up window when text got highlighted. It recognized when it was a SI unit. This is a feature that I have not seen in any other browser yet.
