61–70 of 263 posts
I tried this many moons ago. Mostly because I like when people try out new UI ideas. It was interesting and well done, but ultimately did not replace Firefox for me. I don't know who it is for: it's good but not obviously better than the big players, so what are their plans for it?
Over time maybe there will be less of a use case as other browsers copy the UI and features.
It's disappointing that there's no Linux version. It's a little silly for them to build on top of a multi-platform browser and then eliminate support for 2 major platforms. I had been looking forward to trying this.
It seems they wanted to get an MVP out and chose MacOS first. It might be annoying for Windows/Linux users but there's nothing wrong with the approach.
Been using since March, have not looked back. It removes a lot of tab anxiety, and helps me organise actual useful links from things that are interesting for just now.
I want to like Arc but I found the onboarding to be very weak. How did you learn to use it in the way the designers intended? Where is the "Master Arc in 5 Minutes" video?
I've been using this browser all through the waitlist period and it's great! Some of the decisions I don't like (my Bitwarden button is hidden by default which makes password filling hard - I don't have it fill automatically on page load), but overall I've enjoyed using it. My favourite features: - split tabs (I prefer this over tiling in the WM) - little arc - PiP works very well for video calls - I have a bunch of…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, you can make folders and put the tabs in there. Those will now function like bookmarks.
But where do those folders appear? Are they still visible in the sidebar? Because the whole purpose of saving those bookmarks, to me, is to remove visual clutter while still having them available when needed.
That said, I primarily use Safari still, until other browsers adopt the SMS autofill of two factor codes it's going to be tough to leave Safari for personal use. Professional use I generally use chrome, as it's tied to our work google account.
However, not every feature is a hit for me. I use the tab management extensively and enjoy the quick action toolbar. I don't see much of their quick-action integrations with particular websites but when I have seen them they've been nice to haves. I don't use the "easels" at all and don't see any need for them or problem they solve for me. I don't find the personalisation all that useful. This does all lead me to wonder if Arc is designed for me, or just happens to currently align well enough with my needs for me to find it valuable. Will they move in a direction away from what I need in the future? Maybe. I hope this is just a feature-maximalism strategy and that it continues to be useful for many in the long term, but I fear that it may become to the web what Hey is to email, where what I want is a more traditional Mimestream/Mail.app.
It is not pushing forwards what the web can be, as I feel many people in these comments are wanting or hoping for, and to be honest I think that's fine. It doesn't need to. We have Mozilla, Google, and Apple, each pushing forwards what the web is in their own ways, in healthy tension with each other.
Great:
- Picture in Picture mode automatically when switching tabs from YT, Soundcloud, etc
- Swiping the trackpad with two fingers to switch profiles instantly
- Clean interface
- Clicking links opens a small window for you to quickly check the content, and if you want to continue you can maximise it, or you click the page in the background to return to the page you were on. Speeds up quick reads for me
- Much thought into where to put UI elements
- Some great shortcuts, like copying current URL (Command + Shift + C), clearing tabs (Command + Shift + K)
- The sidebar design doesn't always play nice with websites
- The way you pin extensions is a bit annoying
- I bump into bugs sometimes since it's early days
- I have no interest in using their Notes, Easels or Download system (easily ignored tho)
- Settings have a very "startup-hype" membership card that serves no purpose, while also not having many settings for customisation. Weird choice imo
- No interest in the auto-archive feature, but impossible to turn off
https://thebrowser.company/values/ I don't think I want to have anything to do with this company. Super cringe. I get the impression that Arc will be a form over function product reflecting someone's understanding of good design and insisting on it. Not that I'd use a closed source browser anyway.
It's also known as moving at crawl speed, unless you have serfs doing the real work for you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But where do those folders appear? Are they still visible in the sidebar? Because the whole purpose of saving those bookmarks, to me, is to remove visual clutter while still having them available when needed.
If I wanted to keep using Arc but found this feature critical, I would make a Space with a single pinned folder that I put all the bookmarks under. Not super ergonomic, but just suggesting an idea to a fellow user.