Amazing. It can ingest ANY website, and flawlessly render all content faster than any other browser converts to text. Built-in Ad and Content Blocking too!
Even Chromium browsers, which is unfortunately the standard most websites are built around, don't support everything that well. Can't be done.
There is a Waterfox Portable, but lately I haven't been able to get it to use Video Calls on things such as Discord or Zoom (it worked in the past, might be a current update issue).
If the "literally any modern website" part is a hard requirement, then I would suggest to go for a fork of modern mainstream browsers with strong privacy/adblocking features. The justification for this is that browser engines can only get so light in terms of complexity and still support modern sites, but sites themselves can be made to be less resource demanding on the browser by selectively blocking unwanted elements. Adblocking is the obvious, blocking unwanted JavaScript would likely be the next best bang for the buck, but even clearing the cache after each session can make the browser feel faster if your bottleneck is memory/cpu instead of the network.
Realistically speaking, the most lightweight browser capable of using modern websites and not just being reskinned Firefox or some Chromium-based browser is Luakit.
It uses Webkit for rendering and Lua for configuration ā but be aware, the configuration is absurdly overcomplicated and complex and extremely poor documented.
as usually you have to go with privacy respecting open source browsers, cause those dont get pointless feature integrations. you havent specified the platform so:
Both Fennec and Vanadium work very well for me on Android.
Vanadium is bundled on Graphene OS, but it might work on stock android or other variants Apparently not as it relies on the OS hardening that Graphene does, particularly malloc()
UI is old yes , lacking extension support ? no , not at all
Pale Moon can handle all of firefox's extensions just fine , also its UI is simple and comfier than most of todays good looking colored bs UI's that u need to look ages for a simple feature !
Personally, I prefer browsers that by default disable most of the stuff on modern websites unless I explicitly enable it.
Itās been over a decade since Iāve visited a public website that ran exactly the way the owner planned on my browser ā but thatās a good thing. I browse for the most part without ads or scripts or tracking. Itās fast, reasonably secure, and when a page fails to load what Iām expecting, I have to make the decision on whether itās worth lowering my privacy, security and resource posture to make it work.
One solution that works pretty well is to use a web gateway that takes any website and makes it mostly functional on any browser back to the original Netscape Communicator and NCSA Mosaic. That way, you can use a very lightweight browser and let a server somewhere do the heavy lifting.
It used to be opera. These days though, pretty much every browser is based on chrome, chromium or Firefox. To support modern websites as you specified is very complex, especially when taking into account security and performance. I donāt know of any lesser known browser engines if you expect to render common websites and support video, sound, animations and so on.
I've been testing DDG browser on Android for a couple of days. Seems to block ads and popups well. Has a built in youtube player which will be handy the next time youtube blocks the frontend. AI can be disabled.
34 Comments
Toes@ani.social · 32 pts · 75d
Literally none without jank. Javascript and HTML5 are monsters and it just isn't possible to get a universally flawless experience without them.
Your best bet is if you're willing to give up a significant amount of fidelity (and images). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 75d
Whatever's the most debloated version of firefox or chrome.
You will not get all websites on something thats light weight. Web browsers are basically mini operating systems at this point.
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 75d
Lynx
codewizard@hear-me.social · 3 pts · 75d
@just_another_person any modern website ? YouTube ? Facebook ? Instagram ?
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 75d
Amazing. It can ingest ANY website, and flawlessly render all content faster than any other browser converts to text. Built-in Ad and Content Blocking too!
codewizard@hear-me.social · 3 pts · 75d
@just_another_person Are you serious ?
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 75d
šÆ it will render absolutely any site flawlessly, yup.
mirshafie@europe.pub · 3 pts · 75d
No, they're unhelpfully trolling you because they're autistic teenagers.
Lynx is a text-only browser. It's cool but it's not what you asked for.
Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu · 2 pts · 75d
I assume that's referring to flawlessly as not working, in those cases. Intentionally.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 75d
It renders all the important bits
auzy1@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 75d
We're no longer just rendering text anymore. It's at the point webpages are basically compiled in real time.
It's no longer possible unless you give up a lot
brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 75d
A āminimum RAM, maximum screen real estateā browser?
Iāve used many browser forks. But I needed one for that specific constraint, and my search landed me on Zen Browser.
However, keep in mind that extensions are heavy. If you need (for example) adblocking, then a browser integrating an Adblock engine natively is best.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 3 pts · 75d
Even Chromium browsers, which is unfortunately the standard most websites are built around, don't support everything that well. Can't be done.
There is a Waterfox Portable, but lately I haven't been able to get it to use Video Calls on things such as Discord or Zoom (it worked in the past, might be a current update issue).
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 75d
š
I wish this existed :'(
lemmyng@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 75d
If the "literally any modern website" part is a hard requirement, then I would suggest to go for a fork of modern mainstream browsers with strong privacy/adblocking features. The justification for this is that browser engines can only get so light in terms of complexity and still support modern sites, but sites themselves can be made to be less resource demanding on the browser by selectively blocking unwanted elements. Adblocking is the obvious, blocking unwanted JavaScript would likely be the next best bang for the buck, but even clearing the cache after each session can make the browser feel faster if your bottleneck is memory/cpu instead of the network.
Krusty@quokk.au · 3 pts · 75d
For what platform?
Dirk@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 75d
Realistically speaking, the most lightweight browser capable of using modern websites and not just being reskinned Firefox or some Chromium-based browser is Luakit.
It uses Webkit for rendering and Lua for configuration ā but be aware, the configuration is absurdly overcomplicated and complex and extremely poor documented.
https://luakit.github.io/
kepix@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 75d
as usually you have to go with privacy respecting open source browsers, cause those dont get pointless feature integrations. you havent specified the platform so:
you should also look around on alternativeto.net
Scirocco@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 75d
Both Fennec and Vanadium work very well for me on Android.
Vanadium is bundled on Graphene OS,
but it might work on stock android or other variantsApparently not as it relies on the OS hardening that Graphene does, particularly malloc()colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 75d
Iāve been testing ungoogled-chromium for a few weeks - pretty happy with it so far!
codewizard@hear-me.social · 0 pts · 75d
@colourlessidea how do you get that ? I'm working on seamonkey.
colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 75d
They have a download page linked here: https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium although I installed it via homebrew I think
CombatWombat@feddit.online · 2 pts · 75d
Iām guessing youāre looking for librewolf or waterfox, though I doubt they are strictly lightweight or can browse literally any modern website.
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 4 pts · 75d
I've used librewolf daily for at least 3 years, and it can browse figuratively any modern website.
CombatWombat@feddit.online · 1 pts · 75d
I would say figuratively any. There are a few websites that build on Chrome-specific web features, but it's not prohibitively many.
HuudaHarkiten@piefed.social · 2 pts · 75d
I can confirm that the car building website thing for ordering a new BMW doesn't work with Librewolf.
Anyway, I didn't buy a BMW.
tobebannedbygaymods@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 75d
Pale Moon Portable
give it a shot , its opensource and very light weight
kepix@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 75d
...just make sure op is at least 30, so can handle a 15 year old firefox ui and featureset and lacking extensionsupport
tobebannedbygaymods@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 75d
UI is old yes , lacking extension support ? no , not at all Pale Moon can handle all of firefox's extensions just fine , also its UI is simple and comfier than most of todays good looking colored bs UI's that u need to look ages for a simple feature !
I'm 28 by the way
Allero@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 75d
Well, lightness has to come from somewhere...
solomonschuler@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 70d
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 75d
Personally, I prefer browsers that by default disable most of the stuff on modern websites unless I explicitly enable it.
Itās been over a decade since Iāve visited a public website that ran exactly the way the owner planned on my browser ā but thatās a good thing. I browse for the most part without ads or scripts or tracking. Itās fast, reasonably secure, and when a page fails to load what Iām expecting, I have to make the decision on whether itās worth lowering my privacy, security and resource posture to make it work.
One solution that works pretty well is to use a web gateway that takes any website and makes it mostly functional on any browser back to the original Netscape Communicator and NCSA Mosaic. That way, you can use a very lightweight browser and let a server somewhere do the heavy lifting.
zeppo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 75d
It used to be opera. These days though, pretty much every browser is based on chrome, chromium or Firefox. To support modern websites as you specified is very complex, especially when taking into account security and performance. I donāt know of any lesser known browser engines if you expect to render common websites and support video, sound, animations and so on.
RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 75d
I've been testing DDG browser on Android for a couple of days. Seems to block ads and popups well. Has a built in youtube player which will be handy the next time youtube blocks the frontend. AI can be disabled.
Aatube@kbin.melroy.org · 0 pts · 75d
chrome.