I’m thinking of doing a thing, and was hoping for some feedback (and maybe it’ll change my mind):

  1. How do you define bloat in a browser?
  2. What are some examples of it, and what browsers have it?

So far I’m thinking bloat includes…

  • Extra software that typically is standalone, like an email client or RSS reader
  • Things that are not widely wanted in a browser, and could be extensions, like an AI toolbar or a cryptocurrency wallet
  • Advertisements built directly into the browser

Are PDF readers bloat?
How about LibreWolf’s uBlock Origin?
And why/why not?
I’ve got some of my own reasoning in the list above, but I’m interested in others’ thoughts.

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    When it comes to anything I like the whole add on idea and I think having default settings or add ons is fine. Its great though if a user can turn them off and anything changed should be preserved when upgrading. Bloat is only bloat when you can’t get rid of it. Its like linux distros. I use an out of the box distro some would call it bloat and prefer a leaner distro. I like it though and if it was the only option everything could be uninstalled. Like linux its that much better if there are multiple options to choose with different base defaults. bare bones, lean, regular, feature rich.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    5 days ago

    Optional features that are enabled by default lowering the performance of the program with no easy method of turning it off.

  • daemonhill@lemmy.world
    3·
    5 days ago

    I think any sensible adblocker to be already an absolutely vital part of any browser. I’ve also found the integrated pdf-viewer on Firefox to be a welcome addition, given how pdf-files mostly seem and feel like relatively simple web-pages (though pdfs can definitely be overcomplicated) to begin with. I’m thinking the recent Firefox VPN addition to be mostly bloat along with most of the current AI-features (maybe the translation-tooling being worthwhile as a core offering).

    • XLE@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      I agree with you about PDF viewers. I believe these days, some websites even integrate them as frames within themselves.

      Translation tooling is technically a branch of artificial intelligence, but it’s a cousin of other AI tools (especially chatbots and all their relatives). But even presuming they aren’t, I think there’s a good case to be made that you would not want the contents of an entire web page to be sent to an unvetted third party whenever possible. That’s true for ad blockers and that’s true for translation. Not a week goes by that you don’t hear about a dozen browser extensions getting caught with security holes…

  • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip
    1·
    4 days ago

    Without a PDF reader and uBlock, a browser is incomplete, and I would instead look for an alternative browser that does have those features, so they are not bloat. An AI toolbar is bloat imo, and so are the ads in new tabs.