Let's talk browsers

MyTildesAccount
2018-12-27T14:37:50Z

I've tried a lot of browsers. Starting from Chrome, to Chromium, to Firefox, to Links, to w3m, to, eventually, Qutebrowser, which I use for most of my browsing now.

At least for me, I had four things in mind while choosing a browser:

I want it to be light

I want it to be minimal

I want it to be keyboard-oriented

I want it to be able to use modern websites

I won't be going through all the browsers I've tried, but those I mentioned are the big ones, so I'll just do a quick check-list of these things.

Chrome/Chromium:

Weighs like a sumo wrestler 1/5

Cluttered 1/5

Just some shortcuts and extentions 3/5

The model, the idol to strife for 5/5

Firefox:

Apparently lighter than Chromium, though not by much 1/5

Cluttered 1/5

Some shortcuts, famous extensions 3/5

On point 5/5

Links:

Very light and fast 5/5

Minimal, though can go smaller 4/5

Yes 5/5

Doesn't support javascript 1/5

w3m:

As light as it gets 6/5

Pretty damn minimal 5/5

Even works for blind 5/5

Does javascript, but hard to use with cluttered wesites like Reddit or any news site 3/5

Qutebrowser:

It is quite small and feels fast 4/5

Can be easily modified to not have anything on screen, and command line-like controls 5/5

Great, but hint system fails with javascript 4/5

Doesn't work with Reddit, for some reason 4/5

With the things that I look for, Qutebrowser is the answer, with w3m being the close second. Of course, there are different things to look for in a piece of software, and you may want the extra stability and extensions Firefox provides, or privacy of Tor browser, or the suckless nature of surf, so I'd like to hear what is your browser of choice!

Comments URL: https://tildes.net/~comp/9dz/lets_talk_browsers

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