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Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

zen-browser.app

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Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#331

Post by reubenmorais »

mnmalst wrote: post #297
explosion-s wrote: post #244

I've recently made a similar (more modular) project which compiles various features and patches them into a Firefox profile. It can compile themes, hardening, userscripts, userstyles and more into a clean firefox profile, basically removing the bloat from firefox while still being fully customizable: https://github.com/explosion-scratch/firebuilder

This looks really great. One thing I have never seen done is having the url bar completely removed and put everything in the sidebar. That would really save some vertical space. Since you seem to know your way around the firefox sources, do you think that's possible?

I don't know what you mean by having the URL bar completely removed (how do you navigate?) but I use CSS to trim the top of my Firefox to look a bit neater with the Sideberry extension: https://gist.github.com/reuben/4afa453611abd7f1477429b2c001f...

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#332

Post by TuxMark5 »

cynical_slave wrote: post #320

I want the newest open tab to be at the top of the list, not at the bottom. The top is where your mouse usually is, that's where the website controls are, that's where stuff happens. Having to move the mouse to the bottom to activate recent tabs is annoying, especially on huge monitors. It baffles me that none of the browsers or extensions that implement sidebar tabs have this option.

Sideberry for Firefox has settings that allow changing how new tabs behave. One of the settings allows placing new tabs on top of the list.

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#333

Post by ziddoap »

imchillyb wrote: post #329
ziddoap wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

76 ideas which were submitted are currently in development and 84 have been delivered. Using your anger/passion to try and sway people to be even less involved doesn't help anyone.

OP stated that there are bugs over a decade old at this point, that still exist due to the concerns mentioned. You didn’t address his statement nor his concerns. You avoided that part of the conversation to basically tell him to shut up. Address the issues first, like Firefox management team should be doing, but aren’t. I’m with OP. Firefox is a horrible user experience. And it’s that way by design. Couldn’t have Goo…

ReadCarlBarks linked to where you can vote on ideas.

KennyBlanken said don't bother to vote on ideas because they wont listen.

I pointed out that many ideas are in development or have been delivered (i.e. they do listen).

The rest seems pretty boring to discuss and unlikely to be a productive conversation. I'm already bored trying to explain this.

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#334

Post by KennyBlanken »

explosion-s wrote: post #244

I've recently made a similar (more modular) project which compiles various features and patches them into a Firefox profile. It can compile themes, hardening, userscripts, userstyles and more into a clean firefox profile, basically removing the bloat from firefox while still being fully customizable: https://github.com/explosion-scratch/firebuilder

Downloads/firebuilder-darwin-arm64 24334 | allowPositionals: true 24335 | }); 24336 | var PROFILE_PATH_CLI = args.positionals[2]; 24337 | var THIS_DIR2 = __dirname; 24338 | var MODULE_DIR2 = resolve4(THIS_DIR2, "modules"); 24339 | var OPTIONS = Object.fromEntries(readdirSync2(resolve4(MODULE_DIR2)).filter((i) => lstatSync2(join8(MODULE_DIR2, i)).isDirectory()).map((i) => ({ ^ ENOENT: No such file or directory errno: -2 syscall: "open" path: "/Users/tjs/Documents/.coding/firefox-profile-creator/modules"

      at /$bunfs/root/firebuilder-darwin-arm64:24339:34
Downloads/firebuilder-darwin-arm64 --help

24322 | import {parseArgs} from "util"; 24323 | import {homedir as homedir2} from "os"; 24324 | var __dirname = "/Users/tjs/Documents/.coding/firefox-profile-creator"; 24325 | var APP_PATH = join8("/Applications", "Firefox.app", "Contents", "MacOS", "firefox"); 24326 | var PROFILES_PATH = resolve4(homedir2(), "Library", "Application Support", "Firefox", "Profiles"); 24327 | var args = parseArgs({ args: Bun.argv, options: { launch: { type: "boolean" } }, allowPositionals: true }); ^ TypeError: Unknown option '--help'. To specify a positional argument starting with a '-', place it at the end of the command after '--', as in '-- "--help" code: "ERR_PARSE_ARGS_UNKNOWN_OPTION"

      at /$bunfs/root/firebuilder-darwin-arm64:24327:12
Little documentation on how to use it, either...

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#335

Post by mthoms »

gexla wrote: post #319
mthoms wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the message, it's the delivery. Some people don't react well to having their skills publicly derided as "horrible". We're all human after all.

That's feedback. You don't survive in this world without feedback. Even in Kindergarten, you had grades. What world do you come from?

[flagged]

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#336

Post by Barrin92 »

bearjaws wrote: post #250
bogwog wrote: post #239

I hope a sustainable Firefox fork emerges soon because it seems Google's illegal default search deals (aka the only thing keeping Mozilla afloat) are coming to an end. That's a great thing in general, but it would really suck if FF died and we all got stuck with Chrome derivatives. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying for my web browser if it's good. I wouldn't pay for Mozilla's FF, but I would pay for a fork of it by…

Mozilla could keep building FF without Google, but it would require that 90% of the C suite get laid off and dedicated focus from the company...

For the fiscal year 2022 which is the most recent data on Wikipedia, it says that 81% of Mozilla's revenue is from Google (about 480 million) they list 220 million as expenses for software development.

If they lost the Google revenue they wouldn't just have to fire "the C suite" but lay off most of their engineers. An independent browser engine is a project with code in the tens of millions of lines, you obviously need to pay hundreds or of engineers to work on this, which is why there's pretty much only three competitive ones, all maintained with significant resources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation#Finances

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#337

Post by LtdJorge »

nokeya wrote: post #79
dao- wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember, I was around back then. :) Panorama was in some ways ahead of its time. The UI was nice visually but also somewhat heavy handed / not very beginner friendly to say the least, which contributed to it being used only by a relatively small share of our user base. We're cautious about not repeating history. We're implementing tab groups from scratch and directly in the tab bar. Our Firefox View feature (Tools…

It was used by advanced users. And what advanced users do? Disable telemetry;) So, I suppose the share was a little bigger but not that much.

I explicitly enable it

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#338

Post by lloydatkinson »

dao- wrote: post #57
widdershins wrote: post #55

Not many straightforwardly positive comments here so far, so I will write one. I'm a Firefox user but I've recently been tempted by Arc primarily because of its 'workspaces' feature and its minimal UI that gets out the way. I used Arc for several weeks and really got a taste for these features, so I'm really happy to see them come to a Gecko-based browser. Thank you, and keep it up! My advice would be: don't advertis…

Agreed. I work at Mozilla as an engineer for Firefox, and I'm generally happy to see this. I currently work on tab groups, and I'm curious to see what their implementation will look like or whether they'll try to fast-track our work-in-progress once that's somewhat viable. For the sidebar and vertical tabs, they seem to have implemented their own thing rather than using what our team has been working on. At a first g…

What is the hold up on adding Chrome like tab groups with colours and ability to collapse them?

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#339

Post by WD-42 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #336
bearjaws wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla could keep building FF without Google, but it would require that 90% of the C suite get laid off and dedicated focus from the company...

For the fiscal year 2022 which is the most recent data on Wikipedia, it says that 81% of Mozilla's revenue is from Google (about 480 million) they list 220 million as expenses for software development. If they lost the Google revenue they wouldn't just have to fire "the C suite" but lay off most of their engineers. An independent browser engine is a project with code in the tens of millions of lines, you obviously ne…

Hundreds of developers?

It's a large code base, but it doesn't require hundreds of developers working concurrently to keep it up to date. Web standards move fast, but not that fast.

Take a look at Ladybird. There's a browser being built from scratch with a small team (less than 10?)

If Mozilla fired 90% of it's employees and kept the 10% to actually work on Firefox, it could be a great browser.

Re: Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

#340

Post by Vinnl »

yonrg wrote: post #180
1oooqooq wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox defaults lately are awful and out of touch... gestures for reload/back/forward? really? several decades and still not incorporating uBlockOrigin as a native feature? really? a convoluted only-4-containers shenanigans that not even the author understand instead of simply isolating private tabs per window like everyone asked over the years? using on android? too bad now you don't have half the settings availabl…

I'm a firefox-only user, and I read your comment in two ways. It's grumpy, but also on the point! Thanks, I feel similarly. What is your main browser btw? FF works for me in great ways, and I am highly productive with it, as long as some plugins still work: uBlock, tridactyl, foxyproxy. And for UI: sidebery, stylus. From time to time I feel I should turn my back towards FF when they come up with new decisions in thei…

Note that Firefox for Android no longer explicitly allowlists extensions: anyone can write one that anyone can install.
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