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Helium Browser

helium.computer

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Re: Helium Browser

#401

Post by gwbas1c »

frizlab wrote: post #390
gwbas1c wrote: post #385

I'm less interested in privacy browsers that just use Chromium and then slap some chrome around it. Instead, what I want is a browser that actively blocks annoying page behaviors . For example, I want a browser that makes all text on a page selectable, prevents a page from trapping right-click, prevents a page from accessing the clipboard, ect, ect.

Try the StopTheMadness extension. It is a godsend.

Is that Safari-only or Mac-only? I can't seem to find a way to install it into Brave on Windows from https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/

Re: Helium Browser

#402

Post by rpdillon »

godelski wrote: post #151
vasco wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is firefox legitimate competition when they are basically financed by Google?

Allow me to rephrase my earlier choice Chromium: Entirely dependent on Google, a $3T company who's entire business model relies upon invading your privacy and currently has a >70% global share of browsers WebKit: A closed source browser with ~18% of browser share and run by a nearly $4T company who forces all browsers on their mobile devices to be reskinned versions of their browser and probably wants to do the same…

WebKit has always been open source.

https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit

Re: Helium Browser

#403

Post by lynndotpy »

godelski wrote: post #124

> 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. > Heli…

I agree with you here. I want a viable non-Chromium browser.

But even if that existed, I also think a practical Chromium browser is important to have access to. I'm a developer and I use the web, so sometimes I just need Chromium. I think that will continue to be necessary for at least 10 years.

And I think the landscape of Chromium browsers is very bad. As a minimum, I want adblocking, low- or no-telemetry, timely security updates, no forced arbitration clause in its ToS, and support across platforms.

Right now, I think that makes Brave the best Chromium browser. That is not an accolade, I deeply dislike Brave, for dozens of reasons. It's just the best of a bad bunch. (But credit where it's due, I do very much like its "Shields" control.)

I only learned about Helium from this thread, but it checks almost all of my boxes. I was really excited to see a new browser that hits my checkboxes... But it's MacOS only :( Alas

Re: Helium Browser

#404

Post by rpdillon »

uyzstvqs wrote: post #345
prettymuchnoone wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

by "Mozilla approved" do you mean that it has to come from the official add-on store? because in my experience, it doesn't--I've installed a couple of extensions manually by just dragging the .xpi into the window.

Extensions in Firefox are required to be signed by Mozilla. If you make your own build of an open-source extension, it will not load. The setting to disable this check only works in Developer Edition, ESR and Nightly builds. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firef...

Installing the developer edition seems like the move.

Re: Helium Browser

#405

Post by yreg »

jmm5 wrote: post #376
yreg wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naive question — why is everyone building chromium-based browsers as opposed to using Gecko? Is it difficult to integrate?

Most of these chromium-based browsers are intended to address privacy concerns. Firefox (mostly) respects your privacy. There are also sometimes compatibility issues with Firefox because web developers only test on chromium and webkit. Anyone opinionated enough to put up with that is just going to use Firefox.

>intended to address privacy concerns

Primarily probably yes, but I think for example Brave or Arc Browser teams also had ideas for their own browser features instead of "just" making a more degoogled Chromium. Helium as well, I suppose, otherwise what's the point?

Re: Helium Browser

#406

Post by 0_gravitas »

godelski wrote: post #124

> 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. > Heli…

Orion as well (by the Kagi people), not available on linux yet but there is a roadmap: web-kit based.

Re: Helium Browser

#407

Post by layer8 »

uyzstvqs wrote: post #345
prettymuchnoone wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

by "Mozilla approved" do you mean that it has to come from the official add-on store? because in my experience, it doesn't--I've installed a couple of extensions manually by just dragging the .xpi into the window.

Extensions in Firefox are required to be signed by Mozilla. If you make your own build of an open-source extension, it will not load. The setting to disable this check only works in Developer Edition, ESR and Nightly builds. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firef...

What‘s wrong with ESR? I would recommend using ESR anyway.

Re: Helium Browser

#408

Post by lapcat »

gwbas1c wrote: post #401
frizlab wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try the StopTheMadness extension. It is a godsend.

Is that Safari-only or Mac-only? I can't seem to find a way to install it into Brave on Windows from https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/

It doesn't support Windows or Android.

Re: Helium Browser

#409

Post by hedora »

lynndotpy wrote: post #403
godelski wrote: post #124

> 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. > Heli…

I agree with you here. I want a viable non-Chromium browser. But even if that existed, I also think a practical Chromium browser is important to have access to. I'm a developer and I use the web, so sometimes I just need Chromium. I think that will continue to be necessary for at least 10 years. And I think the landscape of Chromium browsers is very bad. As a minimum, I want adblocking, low- or no-telemetry, timely s…

What is your definition of “viable”? Plenty of people own iPhones, which is locked down to webkit.

Similarly, firefox is fine. I switch between it chromium and safari for dev work, and (unless you go out of your way to find a counterexample) they’re completely interchangeable in terms of compatibility and real-world performance.

Firefox runs fine on android, so there’s not even a platform where chrome is the only choice (other than chromebooks).

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