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Min – A smarter web browser

minbrowser.github.io

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Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#31

Post by dang »

SwellJoe wrote: post #10

YC commenters are brutal. Not a single positive comment, so far. That feels a little unnecessarily mean, given that it's a free software project.

They're mostly reacting to the title, because that's all that most HN comments react to. This is a much stronger effect than I think people realize.

Had the title said "Min, a first attempt at a minimal browser that we hope might have some value someday, perhaps you could take a look", commenters would bend over backwards to find nice things to say, because that would be the only way to contradict the title.

Actually the nice comments mostly come up for the same reason as the harsh ones—contradicting what someone else said. First the harsh comments contradict the title and then the nice comments contradict the harsh ones. Contradictions R us.

Edit: I started calling this the contrarian dynamic: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#32

Post by Meph504 »

capex wrote: post #26
userbinator wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and is so flat that it doesn't offer any directional hinting at all. These featureless, "wide expanse of pure white" UIs are one of the things that most irritates me about "modern" software today. They give the impression of being unfinished and opaque.

Its not the flatness, its lack of design. See for example, https://www.sail.com.au/ , which is flat too, but with a cohesive design.

I am pretty sure core to "Flat UI" is that drop shadows shouldn't be used, and there is hardly an element on that site that isn't full of them.

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#33

Post by mrmondo »

capex wrote: post #26
userbinator wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and is so flat that it doesn't offer any directional hinting at all. These featureless, "wide expanse of pure white" UIs are one of the things that most irritates me about "modern" software today. They give the impression of being unfinished and opaque.

Its not the flatness, its lack of design. See for example, https://www.sail.com.au/ , which is flat too, but with a cohesive design.

That site looks pretty awful to me, while I can clearly make out the buttons from other elements it looks like a old stock Drupal theme or something along those lines.

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#34

Post by nkkollaw »

earenndil wrote: post #9

> Find anything instantly Aside from fuzzy search, all of this is already possible. > Effortless tab management All the things in here are already possible in firefox using addons. > Built-in ad blocking I honestly don't care if ad-blocking is built in. It's not like it's a chore that affects my day-to-day use of a browser to install an addon once for adblocking. > Fast and efficient It literally uses the same engine…

So..?

What's your point? It's just as good as any other browser

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#35

Post by icebraining »

darklajid wrote: post #6

Ignoring the general 'Electron seems a waste of resources' (with which I partially agree with) comments: Requires 'Ubuntu' or 'macOS'? I seem to know a lot of Electron based apps that run on other Linux distributions or - gasp - even Windows. Clicking on the 'Download anyway' link brings up the GitHub release tab. With, among others, a file called 'Min-v1.6.3-win32-x64.zip'.

> With, among others, a file called 'Min-v1.6.3-win32-x64.zip'

"If it compiles, it is good; if it boots up, it is perfect"? Just because the build has a Windows target doesn't mean it's a supported platform.

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#36

Post by shakna »

nkkollaw wrote: post #34
earenndil wrote: post #9

> Find anything instantly Aside from fuzzy search, all of this is already possible. > Effortless tab management All the things in here are already possible in firefox using addons. > Built-in ad blocking I honestly don't care if ad-blocking is built in. It's not like it's a chore that affects my day-to-day use of a browser to install an addon once for adblocking. > Fast and efficient It literally uses the same engine…

So..? What's your point? It's just as good as any other browser

It advertises itself as a smarter web browser, but, as you said, it's only "as good as any other browser".

The only pull it has... is that it might be adequate.

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#37

Post by kierenj »

nkkollaw wrote: post #34
earenndil wrote: post #9

> Find anything instantly Aside from fuzzy search, all of this is already possible. > Effortless tab management All the things in here are already possible in firefox using addons. > Built-in ad blocking I honestly don't care if ad-blocking is built in. It's not like it's a chore that affects my day-to-day use of a browser to install an addon once for adblocking. > Fast and efficient It literally uses the same engine…

So..? What's your point? It's just as good as any other browser

Title says it's "smarter"?

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#38

Post by bananicorn »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #16

I think the main reason people are hating on this is because it's selling itself as something it's not: A smarter browser. Should stick with its original goal. I think they created it as a "minimal" browser, hence the name.

If you're going for minimal, it won't get much more minimal than this:

https://surf.suckless.org/

But at least the smart part may be of merit. And we all know what HN thinks of electron, but at least bundling chrome with a browser seems reasonable. Not for a minimalistic browser though, I think hence the branding as "a smarter browser".

Oh boy, I actually set out to defend the project, but now I realize while there's clearly been some work put into it, some areas haven't been thought out too well...

At least it looks nice and clean, that's something.

edit: corrected my wording in the first sentence.

Re: Min – A smarter web browser

#40

Post by vog »

dang wrote: post #31
SwellJoe wrote: post #10

YC commenters are brutal. Not a single positive comment, so far. That feels a little unnecessarily mean, given that it's a free software project.

They're mostly reacting to the title, because that's all that most HN comments react to. This is a much stronger effect than I think people realize. Had the title said "Min, a first attempt at a minimal browser that we hope might have some value someday, perhaps you could take a look", commenters would bend over backwards to find nice things to say, because that would be the only way to contradict the title. Actually…

This is by no means specific for HN.

For example, a popular German radio moderator and podcaster once said:

"If I want to learn something about a topic, and ask a question on air, almost nobody answers. But if instead I make a false (or naive) claim about that topic, I receive lots of replies correcting me, and might even get an interview with an actual expert on that topic."

[Holger Klein, paraphrased, rough translation]

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