this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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65
My Thoughts on the Zen Browser (popcar.bearblog.dev)
submitted 11 hours ago by popcar2@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] harryprayiv@infosec.pub 15 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Nixpkgs has been working on packaging it for more than 6 months now. That is a damning timeframe for both Zen and nixpkgs in IMO equal parts. In Zen’s case, that means that they are packaging their app in a very unconventional way and lagging with security updates, breaking standards (which usually means they are amateurs). In nixpkgs case, that means nixpkgs needs better

buildMozillaMach

support.

I used it in an appImage and came away unimpressed. Using it in a tiling WM, I loved the minimalism….but I just wish it had better security and rendered webpages better. On Brave, websites literally look sharper than on Zen.

Edit: most of my concerns were addressed by the dev themself just down the page a bit.

[–] priapus@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

That comment about their security updates is a couple of months old. Zen has made significant changes to how they handle releases to stay up to date with Firefox, some of which were mentioned in the thread.

The Nix package is functional. Nixpkgs sometimes chooses not to add beta software that is receiving very frequent updates, especially if the package takes a lot of resources to build. In those cases, it makes more sense for the package to be maintained outside Nixpkgs for the time being. NixOS users can get Zen from this Flake, which patches the official binary. COSMIC Desktop is another example of this.

Pages not looking sharp sounds like it's probably a font or scaling issue.

[–] harryprayiv@infosec.pub 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks for the update. I did read down the page and saw that. The dev looked really receptive, cooperative, and pro about it.

[–] priapus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

Agreed. I doubt he expected the project to be anywhere near this popular considering how many Firefox forks there are, and he's been doing a great job keeping up with everything that popularity comes with.

[–] saga@lemm.ee 16 points 9 hours ago

Been my daily driver for a WHILE now. Works fine for most things. Every now and then I run into some oddities.

[–] async_amuro@lemm.ee 11 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Been using it for a while, I like it, but they do push out some questionable updates every now and then. Bugs I can understand, but forcing design changes on people aren’t great. Calling out the new tab change they made, I ended up changing a setting to deactivate it. Right now it’s my preferred browser, but I’m still open to looking into alternatives (Mac/Linux).

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

It's in beta, so large changes are to be expected. I don't think it's fair to blame them for design changes right now.

[–] rfr_Foglia@feddit.it 12 points 10 hours ago

It's still a beta, I think it's unfair to complain about drastic changes until it comes out

[–] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago

Like the other person said, beta software is expected to go through pretty large design changes. It's not a matter of "forcing it on the user" it's a matter of "my software isn't ready yet, I'm not certain what my vision is, and if you're not willing to put up with me figuring out what I want out of this software then wait for it to release and I'll keep it stable from there"

[–] cevn@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

One way to solve the “content appearing offset to right” problem is to move your tabs to the right side. Works pretty well for me..

[–] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 9 hours ago

I've been using it for weeks and I think I'll stick with it. It feels fresh and relaxed at the same time.