Daerandin
Well-Known Member
I've been a long time Firefox user, but certain recent news have made me less than enthusiastic about the future of Firefox. In particular the news that Mozilla's top exec pay has increased by 400% while usage has declined, and they have fired roughly 250 employees. Mozilla's primary source of income is Google, which comes from Google being the default search engine on Firefox, this in itself seems like an ethical problem in my eyes.
Obviously you can change the default search engine quite easily, and where Firefox might fail to protect your privacy there will always be browser plugins such as adblockers, noscript and the like.
Still, I found myself wanting to look into different browsers. Now there are a lot to look for, such as the "ungoogled chromium", which is the Chromium browser, but with all the builtin Google parts removed. There are also Firefox forks that focus more on security. Suffice it to say, you are almost guaranteed to find a browser that suits your needs.
Personally I have a thing for minimal interfaces, and I REALLY like vim-like keybindings. On Firefox I was using something called Vimium, which adds vim-like keybindings for a more keyboard driven experience. Turns out there are also multiple browsers that aim for this goal, and this is where I find qutebrowser.
qutebrowser has a minimal interface and vim-like keybindings. The actual backend/browser engine is based on Chromium, but with all the proprietary and google bits removed. qt5-webengine is the name of the backend. qutebrowser itself is really just a browser interface that sits on top of the backend engine, so the qutebrowser developer only work on the interface. The qt5-webengine backend gets frequent security updates based off chromium, so security is not an issue.
By default, qutebrowser is no more privacy oriented than most other browsers, but it is easily configured as long as you are willing to take the time. I can easily and quickly enable/disable javascript for a particular website with just three quick keypresses on the keyboard. There is a simple host-based adblock built in, although a more comprehensive adblocker is in development currently.
Since the browser itself is so simple, there is no password storage, which I actually really like. Instead, it relied on pass, which is a secure password storage software for Linux, it uses gnupg to store your password encrypted. I need to manually enter in website url/username/password for pass in the command line, but after that's all done I can autofill password forms with a single keypress (this must be manually configured first). Navigating websites with just keyboard is also quite simple, to "click" on a link, or picture, or any other element, I first click on "f", which will highlight each clickable element with a keycode, which I then press to select an element.
I can of course also use my mouse if I want to, but I find myself relying mostly on the keyboard. I do realize that most people would prefer a browser with a more common interface, but I find this browser to perfectly cater to my needs and preferences. And I just wanted to share it in case others might be intrigued and want to try it out.
Here's a few screenshots, although there is not really much to show. Websites still look like regular websites, it's just the actual browser interface that is lacking the usual buttons and toolbars.
This next screenshot shows how clickable elements on the page will be highlighted after I press "f"
Obviously you can change the default search engine quite easily, and where Firefox might fail to protect your privacy there will always be browser plugins such as adblockers, noscript and the like.
Still, I found myself wanting to look into different browsers. Now there are a lot to look for, such as the "ungoogled chromium", which is the Chromium browser, but with all the builtin Google parts removed. There are also Firefox forks that focus more on security. Suffice it to say, you are almost guaranteed to find a browser that suits your needs.
Personally I have a thing for minimal interfaces, and I REALLY like vim-like keybindings. On Firefox I was using something called Vimium, which adds vim-like keybindings for a more keyboard driven experience. Turns out there are also multiple browsers that aim for this goal, and this is where I find qutebrowser.
qutebrowser has a minimal interface and vim-like keybindings. The actual backend/browser engine is based on Chromium, but with all the proprietary and google bits removed. qt5-webengine is the name of the backend. qutebrowser itself is really just a browser interface that sits on top of the backend engine, so the qutebrowser developer only work on the interface. The qt5-webengine backend gets frequent security updates based off chromium, so security is not an issue.
By default, qutebrowser is no more privacy oriented than most other browsers, but it is easily configured as long as you are willing to take the time. I can easily and quickly enable/disable javascript for a particular website with just three quick keypresses on the keyboard. There is a simple host-based adblock built in, although a more comprehensive adblocker is in development currently.
Since the browser itself is so simple, there is no password storage, which I actually really like. Instead, it relied on pass, which is a secure password storage software for Linux, it uses gnupg to store your password encrypted. I need to manually enter in website url/username/password for pass in the command line, but after that's all done I can autofill password forms with a single keypress (this must be manually configured first). Navigating websites with just keyboard is also quite simple, to "click" on a link, or picture, or any other element, I first click on "f", which will highlight each clickable element with a keycode, which I then press to select an element.
I can of course also use my mouse if I want to, but I find myself relying mostly on the keyboard. I do realize that most people would prefer a browser with a more common interface, but I find this browser to perfectly cater to my needs and preferences. And I just wanted to share it in case others might be intrigued and want to try it out.
Here's a few screenshots, although there is not really much to show. Websites still look like regular websites, it's just the actual browser interface that is lacking the usual buttons and toolbars.
This next screenshot shows how clickable elements on the page will be highlighted after I press "f"