Yeah, not really seeing what this provides that I don’t already get from Firefox. If it can get some people off Chrome or Safari that’s good I guess, but at the end of the day is this just yet another Chromium based browser?
And when Manifest v3 is fully enforced in Chromium (current date is slated to be July 2024), then the more restricted uBlock Origin Lite would need to be used instead.
(I’m not sure if Arc will fully adopt v3, but they might not have a choice at some point in time.)
Filter lists update only when the extension updates (no fetching up to date lists from servers)
Many filters are dropped at conversion time due to MV3’s limited filter syntax
No crafting your own filters (thus no element picker)
No strict-blocked pages
No per-site switches
No dynamic filtering
No importing external lists
TL;DR: The way uBlock Origin works on Firefox right now is already better, but if Arc has to go along with Manifest v3 in Chromium in a few months, then it’ll be even more of a differentiator.
It also looks like they’re even thinking about rolling out their own tracker blocker (instead of using uBlock Origin) as a result of the Manifest v3 changes:
Arc has a lot of unique features, but these are three that fundamentally change how you use a computer. It took me a couple months to adjust my browsing habits, and it has ruined me. I literally hate using any other browser now.
Arc syncs tabs between windows. This allows new workflows that just are not possible at all in any other browser. I have five windows open right now, all showing the same set of tabs (which are split into groups, so not all tabs are showing the same group… but some are the same group, for example I opened Sideberry in a new tab in the same group, but I’m reading it in another window). This also obviously syncs between devices, so your work desktop, laptop, phone, gaming pc at home… all have the same tabs. All the time.
Arc automatically closes tabs for you. That definitely takes getting used to, but once you do get used to it, it’s awesome.
Finally, there are no bookmarks in Arc. Instead of bookmarks you can “pin” any tab which essentially disables auto-close for that tab. Unlike a bookmark, a tab doesn’t contain a fixed URL. For example i have a Lemmy tab, which by default is the homepage but it could also be this discussion temporarily, then go back to being the homepage again later today.
Those three are tied together in a carefully thought out user interface, with a bunch of other nice little touches like the way audio/video is handled if you’re not in the tab that’s playing media right now.
Yeah, not really seeing what this provides that I don’t already get from Firefox. If it can get some people off Chrome or Safari that’s good I guess, but at the end of the day is this just yet another Chromium based browser?
Yep, same. FF has been my go to browser for years
Genuinely don’t comprehend why anyone uses anything other than Firefox. FF + uBlock makes the internet so much better
Arc has uBlock installed by default. So that’s not a differentiator between the two.
It certainly is a differentiator: uBlock Origin already works best on Firefox. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
And when Manifest v3 is fully enforced in Chromium (current date is slated to be July 2024), then the more restricted uBlock Origin Lite would need to be used instead.
(I’m not sure if Arc will fully adopt v3, but they might not have a choice at some point in time.)
The Lite version still works well considering all the restrictions, but has a lot of limitations: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#issuecomment-1507539114
TL;DR: The way uBlock Origin works on Firefox right now is already better, but if Arc has to go along with Manifest v3 in Chromium in a few months, then it’ll be even more of a differentiator.
It also looks like they’re even thinking about rolling out their own tracker blocker (instead of using uBlock Origin) as a result of the Manifest v3 changes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/wiki/index/#wiki_how_will_arc_handle_the_transition_from_manifest_v2_to_manifest_v3.3F
https://twitter.com/joshm/status/1728926780600508716
Arc has a lot of unique features, but these are three that fundamentally change how you use a computer. It took me a couple months to adjust my browsing habits, and it has ruined me. I literally hate using any other browser now.
Arc syncs tabs between windows. This allows new workflows that just are not possible at all in any other browser. I have five windows open right now, all showing the same set of tabs (which are split into groups, so not all tabs are showing the same group… but some are the same group, for example I opened Sideberry in a new tab in the same group, but I’m reading it in another window). This also obviously syncs between devices, so your work desktop, laptop, phone, gaming pc at home… all have the same tabs. All the time.
Arc automatically closes tabs for you. That definitely takes getting used to, but once you do get used to it, it’s awesome.
Finally, there are no bookmarks in Arc. Instead of bookmarks you can “pin” any tab which essentially disables auto-close for that tab. Unlike a bookmark, a tab doesn’t contain a fixed URL. For example i have a Lemmy tab, which by default is the homepage but it could also be this discussion temporarily, then go back to being the homepage again later today.
Those three are tied together in a carefully thought out user interface, with a bunch of other nice little touches like the way audio/video is handled if you’re not in the tab that’s playing media right now.