Currently, I’m a Vivaldi user. My issue with Vivaldi is simple: it isn’t fully open source.
So what are my options? The obvious ones are Brave and Firefox.
But.
Brave has all the crypto crap, its sync feature sucks, as it doesn’t even save all my settings, the mobile browser version of it sucks even more, because I couldn’t find a way to access tabs from my laptop on the mobile client, and Brave mobile only supports the tab bar at the top (I want it at the bottom, phones are big, at least make them easier to use)
Firefox has the sync features, the mobile version supports tabs at the bottom, and sync is easy and works well, and on top of all that, it is either packaged by or preinstalled on most, if not all Linux distros BUT I have 3 issues with Firefox: Data collection is on by default (not that big of a deal, as it’s Mozilla, not Google, the data isn’t that much and can be turned off with a single toggle), Something very important for me is small tabs, and Firefox’ tabs are MASSIVE. I just want small tabs that look like Brave’s tabs, same colours, small and simple. And third, I want a better start page. Firefox’ start page doesn’t support custom backgrounds, and I want one that does. And preferably also has privacy statistics like number of ads and trackers blocked.
Lastly, it has to be based on Chromium or Gecko (Firefox’ engine) so I can use all my browser extensions.
Is there a browser out there that meets all my criteria?
While it may be possible, the more requirements make it harder to meet.
When you move from one relationship to another, you don’t expect your new partner to be exactly like the old one. You accept and learn to love the differences.
Stat page and tab size are very particular deal breakers. Are they really key? I prefer FF tabs to Chrome as I can see what I’m clicking on and not accidentally close it. I don’t stay on home page long enough to notice. My old tabs open at start up.
your new partner
Not exactly a new partner per se, more like some exes.
Are they really key?
Not necessarliy dealbreakers. In fact, I’m thinking of giving Firefox a shot again. Using your relationships example as an extended metaphor, Firefox is the one that will always be there (packaged everywhere), will never leave you, unless you want them to, and while lacking a bit in the visual department (personal preference), is a stable choice for a “relationship”.
Brave is the one that’s hot, but crazy. It offers you an alternative way of doing things, and while a lot of people fall for it, personally, I’d prefer someone else.
Vivaldi is the one that looks good, and is stable, but might not always be with you (not packaged everywhere), and hides some things from you (not completely open source).
Fair points. I like your extended metaphors :). Go for it, you won’t regret it. Try to just experience it, focus on what it is, and not what it isn’t and you might you find yourself falling for it.
UI is very opinionated and sometimes you notice the differences at the start, but as you use it, you realise you could love it more :). I’ve found this with a few things (Matrix, Libre Office, GrapheneOS). I haven’t discovered this with FF as i’ve been in a relationship with it for over a decade now :). I occasionally dabble in chrome stuff, but it the way they hate people that use more than 10 tabs is something I cannot handle.
The answer is Firefox CSS: https://firefoxcss-store.github.io/
As for your firefox issues, thats pretty trivial to fix by adding some CSS in usercontent.css/userchrome.css
See here for some examples: MrOtherGuy/firefox-csshacks
You might want to look into Firefox forks—LibreWolf, maybe? Or Seamonkey, which is technically not a Firefox fork but might as well be. I use Pale Moon, but while it does have small tabs and no data collection that I’m aware of (even the code supporting it may have been ripped out in the ongoing efforts to get rid of unwanted maintenanace burdens), it uses the old Firefox extension framework that was deprecated some years ago, so you’d likely have to find alternatives to some extensions.
