How to surf the web effectively. The best extensions.

Web browsers are gateways to the Internet, so they play a key role in your browsing experience. They shape the way we experience the Internet. There are many web browsers in the market, which one should you use? Unfortunately, the answer is not straightforward.

• Google Chrome: Known for its speed and extensive extension ecosystem, Chrome is ideal for general browsing and web development. It is designed to make the web faster, safer, and easier. Google Chrome is indeed fast and, of course, it is absolutely free of charge. Arch: yay -S google-chrome

Google Chrome supports themes and extensions, so you can customize the appearance of your browser (its look and feel) and expand its functions. Some of the extensions you may be interested in are:

1. Awesome Screen Recorder & Screenshot is the highest-rated screen capture & screen recorder tool.
2. AdBlock, block ads across the web; SponsorBlock for YouTube skip sponsorships, subscription begging and more on YouTube videos.
3. Grammarly for Chrome. “From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate writing errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.”
4. Bonjourr. It transforms your browser’s new tabs into a beautiful, customizable and lightweight startpage. While it aims to look and feel minimal, it still brings you lots of options to customize it to your liking, e.g., Weather, Search bar, and import your current bookmarks from your browser.
5. Honey. It is a browser extension that unlock access to automatic coupons, promo codes, and deals to save you money.
6. Free VPN for Chrome. A free VPN service.
7. I don’t care about cookies is a really cool extension that removes annoying cookie warnings from many websites and saves you thousands of unnecessary clicks.
8. SuperCopy - Enable Copy is another great extension that allows you to copy text from restricted sites.
9. Unpaywall is a fast, free, and legal extension that lets you easily find legal free sources for articles behind paywalls. When you see the green tab beside a research article, click it to read the full text.

• Mozilla Firefox is a free, open-source, and very popular web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It is is easy to use and fast. Firefox supports extensive customization and add-ons.

• Brave is a security-focused web browser that blocks trackers and third-party cookies that monitor your activity by default. Let’s install it in Arch:

1. Firstly, we clone its repository:

   git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/brave-bin.git
   

2. Secondly, we move to the recently created directory: cd brave-bin
3. Finally, we create a package, install the package and missing dependencies: makepkg -si

   Alternatively, you can install it with the help of an AUR helper such as yay or paru: yay -S brave-bin

   Enable Brave Rewards: Click the Rewards icon △ Rewards Settings, Verify Wallet, Uphold. Fine-tune your Brave Rewards settings: Auto-Contribute (disable, this is a way to automatically support publishers and content creators), Brave Private Ads Settings (10 ads per hour).

• Vivaldi is fast, easy to use, and highly customizable with features like tab stacking and a built-in ad blocker for power users. It is an ultra-flexible browser for power users.

• Arc Browser: A visually appealing browser with built-in productivity tools like split-screen views and note-taking integration. Arc aims to keep things clean and clutter free by allowing users to create new workspaces. It is currently available on MacOS and Windows.

• Tor is one of the easiest ways to browse the web anonymously. “Tor Browser isolates each website you visit so third-party trackers and ads can’t follow you. Any cookies automatically clear when you’re done browsing.”

• Torch Browser is a free, Chromium-based web browser which adds a ton of different features for the modern user. Basically, you can easily share sites, download torrents, accelerate downloads, grab online media, play games, and listen to the music from within the browser.

Many security-related websites consider Torch Browser to be untrustworthy because it comes ‘bundled’ with a lot of questionable toolbars and programs.

Zen

Zen functions less like a traditional browser and more like a personalized environment where your online activities are organized and deeply integrated. Under the hood, Zen runs on the robust, privacy-focused Firefox engine. Instead of treating tabs as a single long list, Zen encourages you to separate contexts using:

1. Workspaces (spaces) — dedicated environments for projects, tasks, or themes.
2. Essentials — global sites that stay available across every workspace.
3. Pinned Tabs — workspace-specific tabs that stay inside one workspace.

Being open source means Zen is transparent, community-driven, and highly unlikely to cease development unexpectedly.

1. Installation. Download Zen Browser from the official website. Install it using the normal installation steps for your computer. Launch Zen Browser after installation completes. During first-run setup: (i) Choose your search engine — for example Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc. (2) When asked about ad and tracker blocking, select Yes, block ads for me. Finish any remaining onboarding prompts. Once Zen opens, you are ready to configure the interface.

      # Installation macOS.
      brew install --cask zen-browser
   

2. The Interface at a Glance:
   Sidebar: Your Control Center, the primary hub for most interactions in Zen. You will return here often to manage tabs, switch between workspaces, access Essentials and pinned tabs, navigate your browsing environment.
   Search Bar and URL Bar. Zen includes a Search Bar where you can enter queries to search the web or type URLs to visit websites directly.
   By default, the search/URL bar floats in the center when you access it from the New Tab button or the Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut. Compact Mode is one of Zen’s main features. It hides browser toolbars and gives you a wider view of the website you are visiting.
   To enable Compact Mode: Right-click an empty area on the toolbar. Select Compact Mode. Choose Enable compact mode.
   Workspaces (spaces) are dedicated environments for separating different projects, tasks, or themes.

3. Recommended Configuration.
   Click the main menu — three dots in the top-right corner. Go to Settings and go to Look and Feel.
   Sidebar and tabs layout: Collapsed Sidebar. Gives more room to the page while keeping the sidebar accessible.
   Search: select your default search engine.
   Appearance: choose your color scheme: System, Light, and Dark. Zen URL Bar: customize the URL bar. Recommended: Always floating. This keeps the URL bar centered and floating for a cleaner look. Customize the Toolbar and add useful buttons.
   Click the main menu — three dots in the top-right corner. Go to More Tools, Customize Toolbar.
   Add: Search bar and Home. Click Done or close the customization panel. Zen Mods are small extensions or tweaks that customize Zen’s behavior.
   To install mods: Go to Settings, Zen Mods. Recommended mods:
   No Top Sites. Removes top site suggestions from your search and URL bar. It is useful if you prefer a cleaner, less distracting new tab and address bar.
   Better Unloaded Tabs. Makes unloaded tabs easier to notice by making them greyscale and transparent. Useful when you keep many tabs open and want to see which ones are inactive.
   Search Shortcuts. You can add custom search shortcuts in Settings, Search, e.g., @yt (YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s), @gemini (Gemini, https://gemini.google.com/app/?q=%s).
   The %s is replaced by your search query. After adding a shortcut, you can type something like: @yt free music and Zen will search YouTube directly.

4. Creating a Workspace. On a fresh install of Zen: Click Default on your sidebar, click the + icon. Give the workspace a name. Choose an icon or color if prompted. Populate it by opening new tabs and entering URLs.
   You can create separate workspaces for work, personal life, research, school, or any other context.

5. Using Essentials. Essentials are global. They stay visible or accessible no matter which workspace you are in, e.g., email, calendar, messaging apps, etc.

6. Using Pinned Tabs. Pinned Tabs are workspace-specific. They sit below Essentials and appear like normal text tabs.
   Pinned Tabs only appear in the workspace where you pinned them.

Surfraw

Surfraw is a command line interface to many popular search engines and websites. It lets you search the web and find everything you need from the terminal very efficiently. It is a really time-saver.

Installation: sudo apt install surfraw surfraw-extra. It is a fast command-line interface to search engines. You can see a complete list of supported sites and search engines by typing: surfraw -elvi. Examples: surfraw [bing | google | wikipedia | youtube | duckduckgo…] justtothepoint, surfraw urban douchebag (Urban Dictionary), surfraw thesaurus love.

Buku

Buku is a command-line bookmark manager.

1. To install buku run: pip3 install buku
2. Add a website: buku -a url
3. Open by DB indices in the browser: buku -o index
4. Show all bookmarks: buku -p
5. Delete a bookmark: buku -d index
6. Help: buku -h.