Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#171

Post by halosghost » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:32 PM UTC

Okay, so, let me premise my answer with the acknowledgement that probably /very/ few people want what I do.

1. Terminal-only (^Z is a thing that I want)

2. Capable of some basic CSS support (e.g., colors, basic text decorations; whatever can be simply translated to ANSI escape codes)

3. Capable of doing -based page layouts fairly consistently.

4. Just enough Javascript support to login to a couple of webpages I like and nothing more

5. Some basic support for cookies and bookmarks (though, a session save would be an acceptable alternative for me)

6. Basic support for privacy/security features (think DNT header, HSTS, etc.)

7. (optional) libsixel integration for image/video output

Having the above presents me with the ability to leave GUI web-browsers behind entirely. Ads and the like would essentially be immaterial if JS and images are toggleable and everything would be glorious. Of course, no one appears to want this kind of thing enough for it to have been created yet. So I will eventually probably break down and make it myself :P

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#172

Post by eli » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:32 PM UTC

superskierpat wrote: post #164

ikeboy wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what's insecure about Chrome password syncing?

I use firefox, but if I remember correctly the passwords are stored in plain text? And there is no global password to protect the saved password.

Chrome has a master password that protects your passwords and saved forms, if you set one.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#173

Post by nailer » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:34 PM UTC

halosghost wrote: post #171

Okay, so, let me premise my answer with the acknowledgement that probably /very/ few people want what I do. 1. Terminal-only (^Z is a thing that I want) 2. Capable of some basic CSS support (e.g., colors, basic text decorations; whatever can be simply translated to ANSI escape codes) 3. Capable of doing -based page layouts fairly consistently. 4. Just enough Javascript support to login to a couple of webpages I like…

elinks (not lynx, which is a different app) does most of these.

http://elinks.or.cz/

HSTS support would be a welcome patch.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#174

Post by brudgers » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:36 PM UTC

Jails for cookies, history, etc.

I want to be able to stay logged into Google/Facebook/Linkedin for convenience without other browser tabs knowing anything about it...or isomorphically, I want to be able to browse the internet while logged into those services without the pages I am browsing leaking data back to those sites. I'll take the hit of downloading 100k of jquery on my 20mbit pipe a few extra times.

I want my browser to sandbox my information to the same degree I can achieve by running separate browsers or setting up special browsing VM's.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#175

Post by wtbob » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:37 PM UTC

wwarren wrote: post #125

wtbob wrote: post #120

- works on X, the terminal and Android (yeah, that's a tall order, but it sure would be nice to have the same keystrokes available in X and on the terminal, and the same information available everywhere) - securely shares passwords across multiple hosts (emphasis on 'securely,' unlike Chrome and Firefox) - blocks ads - blocks JavaScript, but makes it very easy to selectively enable it - supports , and (hey, you did a…

Isn't emacs the 'emacs of web browsers'?

Yeah, if emacs supported a terminal-aware WebKit then that would pretty much be my ideal browser; I could add everything else.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#176

Post by mtmail » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:40 PM UTC

1arity wrote: post #20

See the history as a tree, not as a list, so branch points can be preserved and you can navigate back over everywhere you've already been. A detailed development roadmap. Privileged browser Apps and Extensions working on mobile. C'mon, it's 2015! ( no PhoneGap required ) An automation API. The same really committed team who optimized V8. Source on GitHub ( not necessarily all of it mind, some can be privileged access…

For automation API you probably want a way to record actions and replay them like Excel macros? If you look for scriptable automation for Chrome then http://phantomjs.org/ might be a step in that direction.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#177

Post by hodwik » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:40 PM UTC

rndn wrote: post #103

Per-tab CPU and memory profiling and volume control. Never remove old history items when revisiting a page, but leave the history intact. Treat tabs more like temporary bookmarks (and thus allow bookmark actions to be used with them like search (full-text), (batch) re-naming, arranging in folders, sorting). Notes that can be attached to tabs and to websites. A history of closed tabs. Scripting support with REPL that…

>"Treat tabs more like temporary bookmarks (and thus allow bookmark actions to be used with them like search (full-text), (batch) re-naming, arranging in folders, sorting)."

That's an awesome idea, does any browser have that?

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#178

Post by klibertp » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:42 PM UTC

brador wrote: post #155

aw3c2 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me counter that with: As long as the quality of online journalism is measured by clicks and ad impressions, its purpose is not journalism.

What else would you like it measured by? Paid subscriptions? Because we all know how that goes. The breadth of online journalism we see today is precisely because of those ads everyone claims to hate. It allows anyone to quickly join the pot and lets the market decide their value. Without ads we'd be stuck with the 4 fuhrer model we had for the last 100 years.

Why wouldn't donations work? Something like Gratipay (formerly Gittip) for journalists?

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#179

Post by knome » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:46 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #174

Jails for cookies, history, etc. I want to be able to stay logged into Google/Facebook/Linkedin for convenience without other browser tabs knowing anything about it...or isomorphically, I want to be able to browse the internet while logged into those services without the pages I am browsing leaking data back to those sites. I'll take the hit of downloading 100k of jquery on my 20mbit pipe a few extra times. I want my…

Wouldn't creating a second user in chromium do what you want here? You could have a specific "social media" user.

Re: Ask HN: What would you want in an ideal web browser?

#180

Post by notahacker » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 1:46 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #128

V-2 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't want any browser to have built-in ad blocking. The best situation from my point of view is if majority of users gets to see the ads, while I don't. Who's going to pay for ads anymore if browsers come with adblocking by default?

"Who's going to pay for ads anymore if browsers come with adblocking by default?" Why is this my problem? Nobody pays for buggy whips any more because we don't use horse and buggies. Times move on. Apologies for sounding flip. I understand lots of folks have business models based on ads. This is most unfortunate, but it's no reason to screw over the consumer and not give them something they want simply because other…

The consumer that wants ad-blocking already downloads an ad-blocker and gets exactly what they want. Making ad-blocking the default option for a mainstream browser means that people who don't dislike ads sufficiently to find a plugin that blocks them no longer subsidise the web for those that do.

It's your problem when you start encountering paywalls where previously only [blocked] ads existed.