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Zen Browser - A very nice, Firefox-based, clean UI browser (zen-browser.app)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

57 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This has gotten some attention, especially about a week ago, but I really hope more people will continue to try it and, if interested, support it. It is Firefox, but heavily modified to please a different audience that prefers a slightly different UI than Firefox. It has some of the appeal of Arc, Vivaldi, and the Sidebery extension.

In my view, it is very promising, and all competition in this space is good. Here it is on Github, also.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I've used it for a bit, and it's really really nice. I just don't know if I trust it to keep up with security updates, especially something so sensitive as a web browser.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It's just Firefox with a custom skin.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I know, but that means it needs to keep its firefox source version up to date to keep up with security, and as its source diverges more and more from vanilla firefox, it'll get harder to do that.

Plus they've already proved to be amateurs by enabling some things that really shouldn't have been enabled: https://github.com/zen-browser/desktop/pull/927.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah enabling remote debugging because the dev thought it made it easier is a pretty big oof.

But this is just strike one. It's a one man show, after all, so cutting them some slack is warranted when it comes to this specific topic.

Nevertheless, your concerns aren't unfounded. This project needs more contributors to be able to keep up. (Thorium is basically in the same boat)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

I'll wait and see before I actually make a decision for real. But so far, not looking great.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A great custom skin, and far better defaults for both privacy and speed, based on Betterfox.

The fact that a fork that simply has a better UI and default settings is gaining so much popularity shows how bad Mozilla is fumbling their product.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I do hope this puts mozilla in a position where they have to improve firefox.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Zen browser has some Vivaldi and ARC browser customization features. That could be an interesting difference.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So far it's been in sync with Firefox Nightly.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

So far, yes, but it's early days for it, and I suspect it will get harder and harder to keep up.