Win Browser#
Preface#
As the gateway to the Internet, browsers are used by everyone every day.
There are still many browsers being maintained today, most of which belong to the Chromium and Gecko families.
It should be noted that Safari is not within the scope of discussion. After all, we are discussing Win.
In recent years, the Gecko family represented by Firefox has become weaker and weaker. The Chromium family has gradually branched out, with not only the Maxthon browser and Opera abandoning their self-developed engines, but also Edge abandoning its own Trident and EdgeHTML and instead using its competitor's Chromium.
It has to be said that these browsers have become much better after changing their engines.
The different kernels inevitably lead to different user experiences among browsers. In the past, web pages were mainly static, with low requirements for browser rendering and layout. Nowadays, web pages are more complex in terms of aesthetics and interactivity, and have higher requirements for kernel rendering performance. Going off on a tangent, haha, there is actually not much difference between Gecko and Chromium in this aspect. Let's not delve into this.
In addition, Firefox had a much larger number of extensions than other browsers in the early days. But now, the Chromium family has a much higher market share than the Gecko family, which has led many developers to only develop extensions for Chromium~~, and some extensions have been discontinued because they do not comply with Firefox's privacy policy and cannot be listed in the Firefox extension store~~. This has also resulted in many websites not optimizing web page performance for Firefox, making the already small user base of Firefox even smaller.
In short, enough chit-chat. In order to find a browser that suits my needs among so many browsers on the market, I have tried them all.
My Requirements#
These are just my own requirements, for your reference. You can read the detailed analysis to learn about the features of each browser.
It should also be noted that requirements that are met by all browsers will not be mentioned. Some requirements can be solved using extensions, which will be mentioned in the detailed analysis.
-
Must-have
- One-click mute for tab audio
- Moving bookmarks in the bookmark bar does not automatically close the bookmark tree
- Quick bookmarking to a specific folder (at least with a search function)
- Tab grouping
- Ability to use a movable sidebar (with the ability to customize adding web pages)
- Compatibility (IE) mode
- The school's academic system is poorly designed and requires this feature
-
Nice-to-have
- Email functionality
- Vertical tab bar
- Workspace functionality
- Explanation: Similar to opening a new window, but this window can be switched using a button within the browser, without being visible in the Win window manager
- Ability to add separators in bookmarks
- Portable AI assistant
- This requirement is similar to "Must-have 5" and can be fulfilled by meeting "Must-have 5".
However, Edge has better integration and provides a better experience.
- This requirement is similar to "Must-have 5" and can be fulfilled by meeting "Must-have 5".
- Browser synchronization
- Support for HEVC encoding
- Full-page screenshot of web pages
- Small-sized tabs
Among the above requirements, the weight of "Must-have" is higher than "Nice-to-have", and the weight of the second requirement in "Nice-to-have" is higher than other requirements in the same category.
Detailed Analysis of Each Browser#
Chrome#
Version: 116.0.5845.111 Vivalid++1.5.5 inside
Meets "Must-have" 3, 4, 5 and "Nice-to-have" 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Nice-to-have 8": FireShot
"Must-have 5 | Nice-to-have 5": Sider: ChatGPT Sidebar, GPT-4, Online, Drawing (cannot add custom websites)
Other:
Advantages:
- Simple?
Plain
Disadvantages:
- Syncing requires a VPN
Firefox#
Version: 115.1.0 esr
Meets "Must-have" 1, 2, 4 and "Nice-to-have" 2, 3, 6, 8, 9
"Nice-to-have 2 3": Refer to the VerticalFox project to achieve a vertical tab bar like Edge and a workspace feature that Edge does not have.
Other:
Advantages:
- Syncing without a VPN
- More friendly to the hard drive
- Good community atmosphere
- Built-in small-sized tabs
- Native bookmarks can be opened in a new tab (requires modification of advanced settings)
Disadvantages:
- High memory usage (can be solved using Firemin)
- High CPU usage
Opera#
Version: 103.0.4899.0 Chromium: 116.0.5845.42
Meets "Must-have" 1, 3, 4, 5 and "Nice-to-have" 3, 5, 6, 7, 8
"Must-have 5": Cannot add custom websites
"Nice-to-have 8": Built-in
Other:
Advantages:
- Beautiful UI and animations
- Built-in note-taking feature
Disadvantages:
- Syncing requires a VPN and often encounters problems, unable to sync browsing history from other devices
- Built-in file sharing feature is not user-friendly
Cent#
Version: 5.0.1002.354 (Chromium 102.0.5005.167)
Meets "Must-have" 1, 2, 3, 4 and "Nice-to-have" 5, 6, 8, 9
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Must-have 5 | Nice-to-have 5": Sider: ChatGPT Sidebar, GPT-4, Online, Drawing (cannot add custom websites)
"Nice-to-have 8": Built-in (but cannot take full-page screenshots)
Other:
Advantages:
- Comprehensive personalization settings for perfectionists
- Built-in mouse drag and mouse gestures
- Multiple columns for displaying bookmarks
- Built-in small-sized tabs
Disadvantages:
- Slow updates, kernel version updates every six months
- Syncing relies on Google, requires a VPN
Vivalid#
Version: 6.2.3105.31 (Chromium 116.0.0.0)
Meets "Must-have" 1, 3, 4, 5 and "Nice-to-have" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Must-have 4": Cannot automatically group tabs, can only manually right-click on the tab bar to group them, not compatible with Chrome's automatic tab grouping extensions
"Nice-to-have 6": Requires a VPN
"Nice-to-have 8": Built-in
Other:
Advantages:
- Highly customizable interface, comparable to Firefox
- Built-in calendar, email, and note-taking features
- Has a "One-Click Rest" feature (pause playback, display a specific image on the browser page)
- Well-designed mobile app~~, will talk about this next time~~
- Built-in ad blocker, but cannot right-click to select elements
- Built-in mouse gestures
Disadvantages:
- Translation cannot default to Chinese (Simplified)
- Sidebar pops up every time a file is downloaded
Catsxp#
Version: v3.9.1 (Chromium 117.0.5938.27)
Meets "Must-have" 1, 3, 4, 5 and "Nice-to-have" 2, 5, 6, 7
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Must-have 5 | Nice-to-have 5": Can add custom websites, but does not have a movable view, clicking opens a new tab and redirects
Other:
Advantages:
- Frequent updates, sometimes multiple updates in a day
- Active community with timely feedback responses
- Built-in ad blocker, can right-click to select elements
- Built-in mouse gestures and drag-and-drop
Disadvantages:
- Syncing uses a sync chain, not an account system
- No mobile app available
Maxthon#
Version: 7.1.6.1300 (Chromium 109.0.0.0)
Meets "Must-have" 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and "Nice-to-have" 6, 8
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Nice-to-have 8": Built-in
Other:
Advantages:
- Good reviews for IE mode
- Built-in note-taking feature
- Built-in mouse gestures and super drag-and-drop
- Built-in resource sniffer and night mode
Disadvantages:
- The settings for perfectionists are not comprehensive, and the UI is not very attractive
Edge#
Version: 115.0.1901.183 edge++ 1.5.1 inside
Meets "Must-have" 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and "Nice-to-have" 2, 5, 6, 7, 8
"Must-have 3": Enhanced Bookmark Manager
"Nice-to-have 8": Built-in
Other:
Advantages:
- Syncing does not require a VPN
- Deep integration of new Bing into web browsing process
- Sidebar can switch between touch mode and mouse mode
- Sidebar can switch between desktop mode and mobile mode
Disadvantages:
- May automatically download new versions in the background (I am using the latest portable enhanced version of Edge)
Conclusion#
From the requirements met by each browser listed above, it is easy to see that although Vivaldi meets the most "Must-have" and "Nice-to-have" requirements, its tab bar is too narrow and it is not compatible with Chrome's automatic tab grouping, so it is abandoned. Instead, I choose Edge, which is the most suitable after weighting. It has a vertically resizable tab bar, is compatible with Chrome's automatic tab grouping, and the sidebar combined with AI makes searching and using some small tools more convenient.