Been using zen for the last month or so and it has been pretty good. I went from using super locked down librewolf to using zen. It is not as private by default but can still be tighten down and with proper support for profiles you can compartmentalize it.
It does break and change a lot since it is in alpha but I used to be an arch user so honestly it doesn’t bother me too much.
Great, it breaks all the interface conventions. How convenient.
I don’t think the sarcasm is warranted here, it offers a standard interface too but augments it with split browsing as an option
It starts with a full screen window, no window controls… so sorry, it pretty much breaks the expected interface.
I was going to write a snarky comment about how that can’t possibly be true… but then I tried it, and well, yep, really not ideal for non-tiling window managers. I liked the general look and feel, but the fullscreen by default does seem to be a big “no” from me.
The split view seems really useful. I was actually just fiddling with that on my laptop with two browser windows.
How does this compare to LibreWolf or other Firefox derived projects?
It is not security hardened from what I can tell. Most of Librewolf’s patches could be applied to build Zen with security hardening. Alternatively, patch Zen browser with Arkenfox user.js (upstream project to Librewolf’s security hardened default profile)
When developers consider their project at “alpha” stage, users should really be wary of the consequences.
So much hype around this browser and everyone touting it, but then, if something breaks and their profile is messed up, then people lose their mind and start cursing the devs.
tldr; It’s an alpha build software, and users should treat it as such. Latest build is Alpha build - 1.0.1-a.17 (2024-10-31)
I’m always skeptical when something is called privacy focused and the article lists no privacy features.
Does this actually provide any new unique privacy features or is it something akin to arkenfox where it is just getting everything upstream from firefox?
When I first heard about Zen, I’ve tested it with EFF like I do for all web browsers I experiment with (from most mainstream to most unknown). Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer a full privacy.
Not everyone cares, but if this is something important for you, Librewolf has been the only one to come up with a full privacy protection result. Maybe you could achieve a good result if you use Arkenfox with Firefox… I didn’t try it.
This is fantastic. Thank you. I didn’t know EFF provided this service.
Shoutout librewolf i b on that whenever the site i want loads lol
Some sites don’t load because of some features disabled in Librewolf. You can enable them and have the sites load, but it defeats the purpose of the Librewolf configuration choices. Nonetheless this is still an option :)
With the current browsers panorama, it’s important to use more than 1 browser. My main browser is Librewolf, then Brave for work, and Mullvad for all the rest. The reason being that almost every site is made to work first on Chrome and everything else is an afterthought (so I use Brave for those).
Neat, wasn’t familiar with cover your tracks, super useful!
Privacy wise it very much is still Firefox with different defaults (telemetry disabled, do not track enabled), the changes to upstream are mainly the UI and some performance enhancements
I am using it as my main browser right now, and I really like it. It replaced Arc Browser on both windows and macOS.
I’m liking it but I’m fully ready to jump back to my faithful Librewolf if Zen proves untrustworthy.
How to prove that you can trust the browser? I’m genuinely asking. It is open source, and people can review the code on GitHub.
But do they?
No.
Generally they don’t and I’m still wary of Zen but as long as they’re staying on the latest FF version and not adding any telemetry of their own then I’m gonna use it.
So, the whole xz backdoor saga was merely a figment of my imagination?
Check out the official website, it explains many more features https://zen-browser.app/
Would be great if there was an arm64 Linux build 🥲
Been using this as my daily driver for a couple of months now. I really like the vertical tabs for home use (not work where I have far more tabs)
Huh, I’m the opposite! I feel like vertical (and tree-style) tabs are useful precisely when you have more tabs
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