11–20 of 129 posts
In 2025 a browser that really acts as a user agent needs to do much more at the content level: ad blocking, content rewriting (clickbait headlines, etc.), content aggregation and summarization, deceptive content idenification, automatic reader-mode, etc.
I want to like Zen but remember this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43443494 Is it safe enough now? Also, anyone have an update on Ladybird? Looks like its dev is still going strong, but I haven’t been watching it carefully.
Brave is faster and the features are similar
Brave however is riddled with Crypto and AI crap. It doesn't have any useable support for multiple profiles, too: last time I tried it, it would end up showing various errors on every startup and you couldn't have two profiles in the same window.
I tried Zen for a while (1-2 months). It certainly has some cool features. But in the end, I returned to Vanilla FF and installed Sideberry [0] with custom userChrome.css [1]. It gets me 99% of what I used with Zen (tree tabs, workspaces), but without annoyances/anti-features (inconvenient url bar for editing, frequent UI changes, cute animations that ignore prefer-reduced-motion, performance, security worries etc.).…
I have to have all the browsers and nightlies installed anyways, so I might as well personalize it to work best for my needs.
I imagine not everyone is like us, and something like Zen being zero config is a big deal.
Have they fixed the backdoor yet? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43443494
I want to like Zen but remember this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43443494 Is it safe enough now? Also, anyone have an update on Ladybird? Looks like its dev is still going strong, but I haven’t been watching it carefully.
Zen still has some annoying shortcomings, like missing Widevine DRM or the dev tools opening up annoyingly slow. The potential is there, but it wasn't quite daily drivable as a developer for me just yet as of a few weeks ago. Once it gets there, I too will finally leave Arc behind. Until then, while it is on life support, Arc actually works. I really wish The Browser Company would just own up to their fuck up and rev…
[1] https://docs.zen-browser.app/faq#why-cant-zen-browser-play-d...