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Helium Browser

helium.computer

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Re: Helium Browser

#121

Post by crossroadsguy »

jitl wrote: post #49

This is neat, and reminds me of Kagi's browser Orion, since their hero image features Kagi search. Orion is WebKit based, so it uses less battery and feels faster to me compared to Chromium browsers, yet it largely supports Chrome extensions via a compatibility layer; like Helium uBlock Origin is included by default. It also has vertical tabs which is essential for me, and open-url routing between profiles. However,…

Orion was a very unstable/buggy app. I don't know how it is now. The funny thing is when I had reached out to their support with a detailed bug report, they asked me to go to GitHub issues instead (or their feedback forum; not sure whether they had moved). I asked them to pass it to the team since I had already shared it and these were easily and always reproducible; I had added proper steps as well. They said - nope. At that point, I realised what a mistake it had been trying to "contribute" to yet another closed-source software. Mail thread deleted, browsers - both iOS/mac - uninstalled. End of story.

Re: Helium Browser

#122

Post by csin »

rpgbr wrote: post #52
ayaros wrote: post #17

Why did anyone think it was a good idea to put tabs in the title bar. How the hell am I supposed to easily drag a window if I have 100 tabs open? Who the hell thought this was a good idea? Why do I feel like the only sane human being left on Earth? Why is this project continuing to use this horrible UI convention? How are they going to make money or enshittify this in the future or sell it off to an evil billion doll…

Firefox does that too and avoid this issue reserving a small space on right site of title bar. Not the end of the world.

Thanks for this reply. This comment chain sent me through an existential crisis.

OP made it sound like tabs in the title bar was a new innovation.

"The parent post is overly strongly worded, but I agree with the meat of it: tabs should not be in the title bar of the window. It's worse usability for a space savings that really isn't relevant because it's so small."

I was nodding to this.

But I'm also someone who cares about vertical screen real estate (enough to call it vertical screen real estate).

So I was in a hypocritical conundrum. Do I care about the title bar, or do not care about the title bar?

Check firefox. Wait wtf, my firefox has no title bar! Did I customize it myself, I don't remember removing it???

Re: Helium Browser

#123

Post by adrr »

ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #107

Can someone explain to me why most browser forks are based on Chromium? If the goal is to make a privacy focused browser which is independent of Google, isn't it then a bit counterproductive to put all your eggs in a basket which only exists due to the goodwill of your main competitor? Why not webkit or Gecko? There might be a good argument for it, but as a person concerned with privacy and the future freedom of the…

Couple main reasons: 1) BSD license vs a CopyLeft license. Edge, Opera etc don't want to push their changes back up. 2) Compatibility and performance is why Brave switched from Gecko to Chromium. 75% of the marketshare is chromium based browsers so sites will more than likely work with chromium browsers.

I don't why webkit is more popular. Maybe because it(Apple) is slow to adopt standards.

Re: Helium Browser

#124

Post by godelski » 

  > Helium is based on Chromium
  > Best privacy by default
Sorry, pass...

Even with un-googled Chromium I do not think these statements are self-consistent. We need browsers that do not allow Google to control the ecosystem. We need legitimate competition. So what, our choices are Firefox (Gecko), Safari (WebKit), and Ladybird?

Personally I go with Firefox on most devices and Orion (WebKit) on my iPhone and iPad.

  > Helium anonymizes all internal requests to the Chrome Web Store via Helium services.
This seems like something pretty easy to mess up. Maybe it is good now, but it sure is going to be a cat and mouse game.

I really would be curious to have some breakdown comparison with something like the Mullvad browser (Gecko). I have a lot of trust for both the Mullvad and Tor teams. They have a much longer history working with this kind of stuff and have been consistently updating it since release. Launched in early 2023[0] and last update was last week[1].

[0] The Mullvad Browser (mullvad.net) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35421034

[0.5] Mullvad Browser (torproject.org) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37159744

[1] https://github.com/mullvad/mullvad-browser

Re: Helium Browser

#125

Post by a022311 »

lpln3452 wrote: post #114
hopelite wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we could just add our own default search with a search string template like when the Internet was still alive. That being said, I like using the slightly more obscure presearch.com and Swisscows.com, for what it’s worth.

Firefox still lets you do this. You can add any URL as a custom search engine by providing a string template for the query. It doesn't have to be a formal "search provider". Any URL that accepts a query string will work.

IMO the problem with Firefox is that custom search engines in Firefox can't use POST requests, even though it's supported. You may want to check Mycroft Project [1] out for that.

[1]: https://mycroftproject.com/

Re: Helium Browser

#126

Post by neya »

GodelNumbering wrote: post #91

I have felt like a perennial browser refugee for a while. For about 20 years now (since OG Firefox was at peak and Chrome was not yet launched), every new browser promises the same things, gets popular enough, then does a full or partial 180. While I like the pitch of this browser, I find it a little difficult to take it at the face value, especially given there is no info on the founders, or whether it is run as a c…

For what it's worth, I like Orion - built by the same team that built the Kagi search engine. It's a shit browser for developers (inspect panel crashes half the time and other bugs), but I trust it way more than Chrome or even Safari. For development tasks - if I need to, I simply switch to Firefox.

Re: Helium Browser

#127

Post by zarzavat »

ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #107

Can someone explain to me why most browser forks are based on Chromium? If the goal is to make a privacy focused browser which is independent of Google, isn't it then a bit counterproductive to put all your eggs in a basket which only exists due to the goodwill of your main competitor? Why not webkit or Gecko? There might be a good argument for it, but as a person concerned with privacy and the future freedom of the…

WebKit is easy but has terrible compatibility because the fruit company makes money from native apps. They do the bare minimum to keep Safari functional so that people keep buying iPhones.

Gecko has an uncertain future and is perpetually at risk of dying.

It's at least possible to switch from Chromium to WebKit if necessary so the risks of building off of Chromium are not that big.

Re: Helium Browser

#128

Post by novok »

GodelNumbering wrote: post #91

I have felt like a perennial browser refugee for a while. For about 20 years now (since OG Firefox was at peak and Chrome was not yet launched), every new browser promises the same things, gets popular enough, then does a full or partial 180. While I like the pitch of this browser, I find it a little difficult to take it at the face value, especially given there is no info on the founders, or whether it is run as a c…

The hard answer is the project cannot attract the good engineers anymore because it eventually stops being a growth project. Without being a growth project, you don't get investment into what you want to do anymore and there is less potential growth in your career and income.

Re: Helium Browser

#129

Post by rs_rs_rs_rs_rs »

ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #107

Can someone explain to me why most browser forks are based on Chromium? If the goal is to make a privacy focused browser which is independent of Google, isn't it then a bit counterproductive to put all your eggs in a basket which only exists due to the goodwill of your main competitor? Why not webkit or Gecko? There might be a good argument for it, but as a person concerned with privacy and the future freedom of the…

>Can someone explain to me why most browser forks are based on Chromium?

Because it's very very very good. Google poored billions into it and it shows.

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