Since 2017 I have tried to use this every other year. I really love this browser. But so much stuff does not render or load and I just move on, dejected. It's like this little browser that could. Perpetually.
It's been about 2 years and I thought I'd actually ask someone this time, instead of my normal Lucy/Charlie Brown/Football experience.
Thanks for any reply.
Epiphany, the code name for Web by the Gnome Project (sounds like a good name for a prog-rock group to me).
I think I used it in some Gnome based distros while I was still hopping around waiting to find Solus. I remember being very frustrated that it did not support extensions (I only use three but consider them to be essential for sane web browsing) it seemed to cope with most of the websites that I wanted to visit but I was more familiar with Firefox so that inevitably replaced Web sooner or later.
Pity really, the Web browser seemed to be quite nimble and fairly easy on resources. The setting controls certainly seemed to be quite minimal whereas my tweaking 'recipe' for Firefox grows longer each year.
To win people away from a familiar product the replacement needs to be perceived as an improvement right from the start. I guess that's why so many replacement browsers are tweaked forks of mainstream software, nothing new to learn.
It is OK. Youtube now loads properly and playback is OK. The overall performance has improved a lot compared to previous versions, but still not on par with firefox or chromium-based browser.
I would not recommend it for daily use but good enough for backup or sanity check when your main browser has issues.
BuzzPCSOS Pity really, the Web browser seemed to be quite nimble and fairly easy on resources. The setting controls certainly seemed to be quite minimal whereas my tweaking 'recipe' for Firefox grows longer each year.
To win people away from a familiar product the replacement needs to be perceived as an improvement right from the start. I guess that's why so many replacement browsers are tweaked forks of mainstream software, nothing new to learn.
that's why I loved it the same reason I loved Solus: it was not a fork, is was easy on the eyes, it was a unique creation. I think what you had to say about perception is right on. Word of mouth helps too. Thanks Buzz--I get what you are saying the smartest replacements are forks.
alfisya I would not recommend it for daily use but good enough for backup or sanity check when your main browser has issues.
About what I thought but was hoping for the best. Did not know that about youtube. I always wanted to purpose it for some duty but it never held up.
The true category of Epiphany is same as Eolie, Falkon, Midori, etc: "Lite." meaning minimum security all around, minimum/no plugins, Tamper Monkey for all...etc. I always wished a "Lite" browser meant better than "mostly functional" but Linux has not turned that corner yet...but I think Falkon has.
I never hated Monkey scripts per se, but they came from what-I-believed-to-be the sketchiest places and security was not Monkey's focus.
I digress.
brent I have tried various web sourced scripts for Firefox without much luck. Mostly they returned performance or privacy but at some level broke the website that I wanted to use that day. Wasted hours tinkering and mostly needed to revert back to standard to get things working.
These days I have a list of about:config tweaks that give me some privacy and performance improvements without breaking anything. They all get put in manually and can be reverted easily if something breaks. Recently I have been idly wondering about using the Firefox profile manager to store my tweaks into something that I can use on any new installs. Only saves a few minutes of tweaking so not looked too hard as yet.
BuzzPCSOS These days I have a list of about:config tweaks that give me some privacy and performance improvements without breaking anything. They all get put in manually and can be reverted easily if something breaks. Recently I have been idly wondering about using the Firefox profile manager to store my tweaks into something that I can use on any new installs
I used to have an obsessiveabout:config list. would lock that thing down tight. was good at it. But the changes in FF are always in motion and you really have to stay on top of about:config tweaks with the changes. this was not always a 'set-it-and-forget' endeavor.
Then I gave about and went to L-Wolf 
/ Where I still ad my own but those people are mostly on top of it.
For example in FF config I would disable all pocket BS and Google BS (on new installs) and LWolf already has that crap torn out. Etc.
EDIT: am probably getting lazier to boot..
brent The true category of Epiphany is same as Eolie, Falkon, Midori, etc: "Lite." meaning minimum security all around, minimum/no plugins, Tamper Monkey for all...etc. I always wished a "Lite" browser meant better than "mostly functional" but Linux has not turned that corner yet...but I think Falkon has.
I don't think it is a linux problem per se, it is just making web browser is very hard. It needs time and resources. Unless you use blink/chromium as a base, everthing else is hard.
We are entering a new phase tho. Firefox forks are rife and interesting. Like I use Zen Browser for daily use now. There is also Floorp and the old guards like Librewolf and Waterfox. Then there is Ladybird blazing through with from-scratch engine. No idea if any of that will last but interesting nonetheless.
alfisya I don't think it is a linux problem per se, it is just making web browser is very hard. It needs time and resources. Unless you use blink/chromium as a base, everthing else is hard.
We are entering a new phase tho. Firefox forks are rife and interesting. Like I use Zen Browser for daily use now. There is also Floorp and the old guards like Librewolf and Waterfox. Then there is Ladybird blazing through with from-scratch engine. No idea if any of that will last but interesting nonetheless.
I neglected the part that building from scratch must be a bear.
I've read about up and comer Ladybird quite a bit. Not in flatpak yet.
Zen: in Flatpak!!
thanks I forget there were upstarts out there!
