Forum Discussion
Chromium-based browser pitfalls
Google is planning to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users only. ETA unknown. This is one reason why it's important that Edge gets good ASAP.
USP - Unique Selling Point. Browsers add features to try and differentiate from other browsers, but those features end up sucking dev time away from the core browser functionality. The more of these features in a browser, the worse it ends up being.
Adobe Reader is installed automatically by Chromium. If you uninstall it you can still read PDFs, there's a PDF reader in Chromium. It's just a pointless install of third-party software, like the Ask Toolbar, or Bonzi Buddy.
Thanks for mentioning DNS66, that's interesting. However, I still think the browser needs to block ads because it's the browser that exposes the user to the ads. Relying on Android, or on the user to have installed something like DNS66 doesn't seem fair to less tech-savvy users.
10. User Agent dilemma.
- If you leave the User Agent as Chromium, everything works, but people can't measure Edgemium rising in popularity.
- If you change the User Agent, you'll trigger loads of websites saying "you should get a modern browser, click here to download Chrome". I think this is the option you've chosen.
I wonder if we can do better. Websites shouldn't be doing different things dependent on User Agent. There isn't really a good reason for User Agent to exist at all. Perhaps you can invent a new way to track browser stats without having to disclose User Agent in a way that breaks poorly-coded sites. I don't know the answer, but User Agents have been a problem for as long as sites have tried to use them for things.