Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 4

A more advanced WebKit-based browser for macOS and iOS (though I can only speak for the desktop version). Orion has a cleaner interface than most, only slightly more complex than Safari and a bit cleaner than Arc or Zen. It has a built-in ad blocker, and doesn’t have any telemetry. It’s probably comparable to Waterfox in terms of privacy: it removes the services that phone home, but doesn’t go out of its way to protect you from fingerprinting like LibreWolf or Brave.

Also like Waterfox, its vertical tabs can be structured as a tree, so you can see at a glance how the tabs are connected. It’s not as configurable, but the way it’s set up makes intuitive sense.

Sync and Extensions

Orion syncs only with other instances of itself, over iCloud. They’re talking about a Linux version, so presumably either it won’t sync to macOS or they’ll come up with another sync system.

“Programmable buttons” are simple toolbar buttons you can write yourself or share online. For things that don’t necessarily need a full extension, like tweaking a page’s style. (There are also “Page Tweaks.”)

Orion also supports most extensions built for Firefox, Chromium or Safari, though you have to go into settings first to enable the third-party add-on stores. I decided to enable Firefox add-ons rather than Chromium, partly for consistency and partly because Firefox still supports add-on [capabilities Google has been turning off].

• KeePassXC-Browser worked once I went into the browser’s settings and switched the password provider from “Orion keychain” to “3rd party provider.”
• Wallabagger works completely now. (When I first tried it on Orion a few weeks ago, the toolbar button worked, but it wasn’t added to the pop-up menu for links.)
• Floccus isn’t compatible yet due to some weirdness in the way Orion handles permissions. This means I probably won’t be sticking with it until I can

I haven’t managed to get Safari extensions working on it yet.

Money and Search

Orion is made by the same company that runs Kagi Search, which is a subscription-based search engine (instead of the usual advertising-based). The browser is free to use, though, whether you have a Kagi account or not.

They do point out that subscribing to Kagi, or to “Orion+” (which is currently more of a donation-with-perks than a proper freemium subscription), is one way you can support Orion’s continued existence.

I’ve been really impressed with it on macOS, and I may end up sticking with it as my main “alternate” on my work box. Though with all the browser-hopping I do, the incompatibility with Floccus is going to get annoying.

Postmarks is a public bookmarks/linkblogging server, kind of like Delicious or Pinboard, but built as a self-hosted server that can interact with others over ActivityPub. This means you can make a linkblog that people can follow on Mastodon, like this one, @interesting@bookmarks.kvibber.com, which I occasionally boost on my main Fediverse account. Unlike most Fediverse software, it’s built for a single person (or at least a single account).

Overall I like it: It has a decent search, each entry has room for a description/quote and tags, and there are Atom feeds for the full timeline, tags, and tag combinations. There’s also a bookmarklet that can be used to send it your open tab.

It does take a little effort to get it to run smoothly unless you’re using Glitch. I’m using the following script to auto-restart it when it crashes.

#!/bin/sh
while true
do
	npm run start
	echo "Program crashed"
	date
	sleep 1
done

The biggest drawback is that it hasn’t been updated much since the initial release. A patch to fix compatibility with non-Mastodon servers went in recently, so I can use it with GoToSocial and Snac now, and you can even follow on Bluesky through Bridgy Fed! But there are other problems that remain unaddressed, like new and pending comments not being easily visible, or edits not federating to other servers.

One of these days I’m going to hack together something to auto-publish starred items from Wallabag. For now I’ve got it going the other way: I can tag an item ToRead in Postmarks, and Wallabag will pick it up from the feed at /tagged/toread.xml.

Another someday goal: wrap it in a PWA so I can send links to it from other apps on my phone. The bookmarklet works on mobile Chromium browsers, but not on mobile Firefox (probably the fact that it’s trying to open in a new tab), and of course not in other apps.

Basic calculator with one-variable memory, like the cheap 16-key models you might find at the dollar store. Plus square roots and unit conversions. No trigonometry, no scientific notation, nothing fancy. But also no ads, no data mining, and no need to pay for a subscription. Probably not suitable for writing a lab report, but convenient for when you just need to split a bill or calculate a tip.

Dependable web browser built into macOS. (I can’t speak to the iOS version since I don’t use an iPhone or iPad.) Not much in the way of bells and whistles, but it does offer the usual bookmarks, autofill, reading mode, private windows, etc. And it’ll install PWAs on a desktop (until the App Store side of the company convinces them not to again).

Safari is built in-house by Apple, and Apple is the main contributor to WebKit, so it integrates extremely well with the macOS desktop.

Apple talks a lot about privacy, but aside from blocking (some) trackers and offering the suspiciously-named “private click measurement”, it’s not clear how far that privacy really goes.

Compatibility note: WebKit and Blink have diverged a bit over the years, but “I only test in Chrome” sites are more likely to break in Gecko browsers in my experience.

Extensions and Syncing

It doesn’t support extensions built for Firefox or Chromium. It does have its own set of extensions available through the App Store (at least on macOS), where I was able to find extensions for Pocket, Wallabag, BitWarden, Consent-O-Matic and so on.

Notably missing: Floccus bookmarks sync, KeePassXC, and Privacy Badger, though Floccus does have an iOS app.

BitWarden’s extension works just like it does in other browsers. As for KeePassXC, Safari does work with the password manager’s auto-type feature, at least!

Sync seems to be primarily bookmarks and the reading list, and only over iCloud.

Bottom Line

You could do a lot worse than Safari, but Orion has more features (and can use most Chrome/Firefox extensions too) if you want to stick with similar tech under the hood.

Primarily a bakery, but they do coffee and tea as well. I usually end up getting one of their cream cheese and fruit filled croissants (blueberry or pineapple) or a danish, and my son likes their cookies. The one time I was here at a time to grab breakfast, I got one of their breakfast sandwiches, and it was really good too! Somehow I’ve never gotten around to trying their lunch menu. And one of these days I should just buy a loaf of bread or something.

There’s a decent amount of seating indoors and a couple of tables outside. Friendly service every time I’ve been. It shares a parking lot with Vons, so parking is easy. They don’t have WiFi anymore, and it’s not really set up for working on a laptop anyway, but sometimes when I need to be in the area on a workday I’ll still set up on one of their outside tables with a hotspot for an hour or so.

Notes