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?

#141

Post by benbenolson » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:39 AM UTC

throwaway6845 wrote: post #116

Less nannying. Yeah, browser manufacturer, I know you want me to use HSTS and you want me not to browse to HTTPS sites without certificates and all that. That's fine. I can understand that (for example) Google wants to be the only org that can track where I'm browsing, not my ISP or the NSA. But for the love of dog, give me an option to turn all that nannying shit off as and when I want to. My computer, my connection…

Firefox gives you the option to turn all of that off. I saw this the other day on Hacker News:

https://github.com/dfkt/firefox-tweaks/blob/master/firefox-t...

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

#142

Post by cm2187 » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:46 AM UTC

jfoster wrote: post #133

cm2187 wrote: post #115

Control over who can run code on my machine. Have a block third party javascript option like we have a block third party cookies.

What do you mean by "third party" javascript? Do you mean javascript that isn't hosted on the same domain as the HTML?

Yes. You could still serve ads from third party domains but these ads wouldn't be able to run javascript. This would be a protection in term of security and privacy. With no cookies or javascript I do not see how a tracking company could track users accross websites. And unless I miss something it would be a more constructive alternative to ad blockers.

[edit] in fact an alternative to blocking third party cookies is to restrict third party cookies to the domain-visited/third-party-domain, such that third parties can still use cookies to track you on the domain visited but that cookie can't track you accross websites.

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

#143

Post by milkers » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:48 AM UTC

I want my browser to work like an IDE.

Tabbing should be separated according to the context.

Bookmarking should be improved.

Instead of a plain web browser the program should work as a knowledge access/management system.

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

#144

Post by grindhold » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:50 AM UTC

IngoBlechschmid wrote: post #24

mod50ack wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A history tree seems interesting A dev roadmap is just a general program requirement. Not specific to web browsers but good. And you're right about mobile and extensions. There's no need to restrict when you don't have to! For a web browser on iOS, sadly you have to use Apple's engine but that's workable with js injection for extensions. And of course on Android there's no problem. I like that iOS is opening a little…

There is an experimental browser project which was created for this very reason (tree-like history): http://rainbow-lollipop.de/ (page is in English)

Yeah, indeed, we got tree-style history and mode-based distraction-free browsing. You can see the project directly at https://github.com/grindhold/rainbow-lollipop

Contributions are very welcome :)

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

#145

Post by ikeboy » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:59 AM UTC

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…

Wait, what's insecure about Chrome password syncing?

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

#146

Post by Flenser » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 11:59 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #61

mod50ack wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

I book mark often. Unless you have rigid discipline your bookmarks will end up as a huge confusing list. Current bookmark managers feel like an afterthough. Google don't want you to use bookmarks. They want you to search so they can mine data and serve ads . I'd pay money for a book mark manager that could organise my list of about 2,000 bookmarks. That software could have a "bulk bookmark import" feature so that use…

You think 2,000 is a lot?. I have over 20,000!

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

#147

Post by aw3c2 » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 12:21 PM UTC

brador wrote: post #117

therealunreal wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's debatable. The internet was without ads once so I'd say you'd lose some, win some.

That was a long time ago and even mailing lists and BBS had ads. You can see it already on sites like Reddit and Buzzfeed, users block ads so the only solution is paid content hidden as user content. Be happy that, for now, it is more lucrative to separate the ads from the content, because the alternative is even worse. In some ways, this last shred of free journalism we all enjoy online is because of those big ugly…

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.

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

#148

Post by imakesnowflakes » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 12:26 PM UTC

nitin_flanker wrote: post #16

I want a web browser that let me open multiple accounts of a similar site at once.

I have been working on this plugin for a while. I just wrote up it's documentation. It is still waiting in the Mozilla's approval queue.

1. http://firstglitch.com/cookieplux/cookieplux-firfox-plugin-f...

Feel free to try it out.

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

#149

Post by MatthewMcDonald » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 12:32 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #142

jfoster wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "third party" javascript? Do you mean javascript that isn't hosted on the same domain as the HTML?

Yes. You could still serve ads from third party domains but these ads wouldn't be able to run javascript. This would be a protection in term of security and privacy. With no cookies or javascript I do not see how a tracking company could track users accross websites. And unless I miss something it would be a more constructive alternative to ad blockers. [edit] in fact an alternative to blocking third party cookies is…

It's not nearly as easy without cookies and javascript, but it's worth mentioning that browser fingerprinting[0] can track users across websites.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_fingerprint

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

#150

Post by asgard1024 » Mon, Aug 17, 2015, 12:39 PM UTC

I would like an ability to snapshot save the web page, with all the dynamically loaded stuff (content, JS, Flash..). Just like some emulator systems have.