The Arc browser is the Chrome replacement I’ve been waiting for

[branfont]

Arc isn’t perfect, and it takes some getting used to. But it’s full of big new ideas about how we should interact with the web — and it’s right about most of them.

 

Switching to the Arc browser is hard. You should know that right up front. It’s not that it’s technically difficult: Arc has some simple tools for importing bookmarks, it runs the same underlying engine as Chrome, and the onboarding process is actually thoroughly delightful. It’s just that Arc, the new browser from a startup called The Browser Company, is such a divergent idea about how browsers should work that it takes some time, and some real effort, to get used to.

The Browser Company’s CEO, Josh Miller, talks a lot about operating systems and browsers. The difference is subtle but important. Browsers, traditionally, have mostly just tried to show you the web without getting in your way; they provide tabs and a URL bar and maybe a way to add extensions, but not much more. Operating systems, on the other hand, are deeply involved in how things work. Think of the way Siri and Apple Pay operate across apps on your iPhone or how Google’s Material You changes the look and feel of everything on your phone. Even the share menus or simple drag-and-drop between apps — that’s all operating system stuff.

Arc wants to be the web’s operating system. So it built a bunch of tools that make it easier to control apps and content, turned tabs and bookmarks into something more like an app launcher, and built a few platform-wide apps of its own. The app is much more opinionated and much more complicated than your average browser with its row of same-y tabs at the top of the screen.

Another way to think about it is that Arc treats the web the way TikTok treats video: not as a fixed thing for you to consume but as a set of endlessly remixable components for you to pull apart, play with, and use to create something of your own. Want something to look better or have an idea for what to do with it? Go for it.

 

 

https://www.theverge.com/23462235/arc-web-browser-review

[SnoopZ]

After a quick look, it's a nope from me with that wasted space interface, it's currently Mac only.

[devHead]

Only on Mac for now but on Windows hopefully next year?  I guess they want to first get it out to the total of 5 Mac users who even know how to download another browser.

[Xenon]

Yea, that's something I have no interest in. The UI looks awful. 

[spaceelf]

I'll try it when it's available to Windows users.  Been interested since they announced it. 

But if it is just another Chromium browser with a different interface I suddenly care much less.

[branfont]

I will try it as well, but have to wait for the Windows version. I only use Chrome on Android, the only reason why I have the desktop version is to sync stuff, I just wish it was possible to sync tabs.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

After the recent redesign of The Verge I can see why they would like that browser... I might try it at some point when its available for Windows, however I don't think it's for me having had a quick look.

I think at this point if I switch to anything it will be to Firefox when Chromium based browsers enforce manifest v3 for plugins, breaking content blocking plugins.

[BoondockSaint]

The last thing I want a browser to do by default is decide when to close my tabs/windows. While I don't see the issue with trying to deliver a new concept for what has been the "classic" browser UI since they came along, after reading that article, Arc is definitely not it. That UI is horrible.