CG艺术实验室

Introduction#

I don't know how many people still remember the term "surfing the internet". It's like the internet is a vast ocean, and websites are the waves of this ocean, while browsers are the surfboards under your feet.

Today, browsers are something that every digital worker uses every day. I am quite picky about this surfboard. With the blessing of perfectionism, I naturally polish this tool to be as handy as possible and have developed my own way of using it. Every now and then, someone asks me what browser I use and how to browse the internet more scientifically (not what you think). So I decided to write a separate article about it.

Excellent Browsers#

When choosing a tool, I have talked about the general criteria in the article How to Use Windows PC Elegantly in 2024, but there are some differences when it comes to browsers.

First, speed is everything.

If a browser is not fast enough, it can ruin your mood. Even if a website takes 3 seconds to load, you might think it's the website's problem. I have the same requirement for my own website. It has to be fast because people are becoming less and less patient.

Second, more features are not important, being able to turn them off is.

Tab groups, bookmarks, password management, sidebars, translation, reading aloud, reading mode, privacy, and security. These are the standard features that modern browsers come with, not to mention other special features, which are already too many. Of course, more features are better, but they must be able to be turned off. Not everyone will use all of them, and having them enabled without using them is a burden and will inevitably affect the speed.

Third, convenience and aesthetics.

This is mostly subjective. Geeks would love to open web pages directly from the command line, while stock traders would love to see stock charts as soon as they turn on their computers. Aesthetics are also important, but that's a matter of personal preference.

Browsers I've Used#

From the famous IE 7/8/9/10/11, 360, Maxthon, to Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Min, Tor, and Arc. It can be said that I have gone through a lot of struggles and suffered a lot during my browsing journey.

Since I learned in college that domestic browsers are all Chrome-based shells, I stopped using them. It's not because they come with bloatware, are slow, have too many features, are difficult to uninstall, and constantly seek attention, or have privacy and security issues. I believe most ideal and tasteful users still prefer Chrome.

It is necessary to explain that the essence of a browser lies in its rendering engine, which is a hardcore engineering work. There are only five rendering engines for browsers on this planet:

1. Trident (IE) Engine: This is the browser engine developed by Microsoft, also known as the IE engine, and is one of the earliest browser engines. Browsers based on the Trident engine include Internet Explorer, Maxthon, The World, 360 Browser, etc. The characteristic of the Trident engine is good compatibility, which can support various websites and web standards well, but the rendering speed is relatively slow.
2. Gecko Engine: This is the browser engine developed by Mozilla Foundation and is widely used in browsers such as Firefox and Netscape 6 and above. The characteristic of the Gecko engine is that the code is completely open, the development level is high, the rendering speed is fast, and it can provide a better web browsing experience.
3. Webkit Engine: This is the browser engine developed by Apple and is widely used in browsers such as Safari and Chrome. The Webkit engine is characterized by its fast speed, high efficiency, and is not constrained by IE, Firefox, and other engines, thus having better security. Webkit is currently one of the most popular browser engines because of its excellent performance and smooth web browsing experience.
4. Presto Engine: This is the browser engine developed by Opera Software and is widely used in browsers such as Opera 7 and above. The Presto engine is characterized by its fast speed, high efficiency, and can provide a better web browsing experience. However, as the market share of Opera browser gradually decreases, the influence of the Presto engine is also diminishing.
5. Blink Engine: This is a browser engine developed by Google based on Webkit and is widely used in browsers such as Chrome and Opera. The Blink engine inherits the advantages of the Webkit engine and has been improved and optimized, providing faster rendering speed and better compatibility. Domestic browsers are based on the open-source project of this engine. If Google had not open-sourced this engine, there would be no domestic browsers. There was even a joke about it before.

Since there are only a few rendering engines, it is natural that each browser optimizes and maintains its "own child" the best. It is best to choose from these options.

Currently Using#

My main browser is Edge.

To be honest, I have developed a love-hate relationship with Edge. I hate it because it's becoming more and more "bulky". It's always messy when you first open it. But as I mentioned earlier, you can turn off the features you don't need.

I love it because it uses the Blink engine, which is fast and supports native Chrome extensions. You can seamlessly sync bookmarks, history, and even send files to your phone using a Microsoft account. The UI has also been upgraded this year, and overall it looks good. I hope the default theme can achieve a pure Fluent Design style, then it will be perfect for retirement.

Another browser I use is Safari.

There is no other reason, it performs best in the Apple ecosystem. The UI is excellent, cross-device syncing is seamless, and it's fast.

The only two drawbacks are that it is overly "secure". Sometimes you may encounter the problem of "unable to establish a secure connection with the server", and you may even encounter this problem when opening your own blog, which always makes me suspect that it's a server issue. The other drawback is that the variety of extension plugins is not as rich. You need to install an additional app just for an ad-blocking extension.

Initial Configuration of Edge#

It comes pre-installed with Windows 10/11, and you can install it on other platforms here. I recommend logging in with a Microsoft account and enabling all sync features. This way, when you switch devices, you don't have to set everything up again, which is very convenient.

If you are switching from another browser, I also recommend logging in with a Microsoft account and then importing data from the other browser. This way, you only need to do it once.

On and Off#

Edge has a lot of settings options, but fortunately, there is a search box in the settings interface where you can search for various settings options, so you don't have to search manually. ~I don't have to write down the locations one by one either.~

• Microsoft Rewards: Off, not available in China.
• This page edge//settings/privacy: Keep tracking prevention/Microsoft Defender: On for browsing, safety first, everything else can be turned off.
• Hover menus: Off, designed for touch devices, not user-friendly for keyboard and mouse operations.
• Open Office files in the browser: Off.
• This page /edge//settings/languages: Everything can be turned off.
• Startup boost: On.

Other options can be selected according to personal preferences and needs, as they have little impact on performance. After configuring these settings, your browser will definitely be much faster and cleaner.

Some Hidden Settings#

Like Chrome, Edge also has a hidden settings page with many experimental features. Actually, they are quite stable now, but these features are more for developers. Turning them off does not affect normal usage, but turning them on usually makes the browser even better.

Enter edge://flags/ in the address bar to open the experimental features settings page, and set them as follows:

• Smooth Scrolling: On, the latest version has it enabled by default.
• Overscroll history navigation: On for high refresh rate displays, enjoy smooth scrolling.
• GPU hardware acceleration: On, reduces CPU usage, and supposedly saves power. I haven't compared it myself.
• Parallel downloading: On, downloading will be faster.
• Scrollable TabStrip: Makes the scroll bar rounded instead of a large square, looks better. It's up to personal preference whether to turn it on or off.

This page is only available in English, but fortunately, these options are searchable, so you can copy the settings based on the screenshot below.

Useful Extensions#

I don't recommend installing too many extensions as they can slow down the browser and may interfere with each other. It is also recommended to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store as they are updated quickly and are more reliable.

Here are a few of the most commonly used extensions:

• Immersive Translate: This is an amazing extension, the translation effect is stunning. It is the best web page translation tool, hands down.
• uBlock Origin: A lightweight ad-blocking extension that doesn't consume much performance. If you don't have any specific customization needs, you don't need to configure it, just leave it on. If you encounter ads that are not blocked, you can right-click on the ad and hide anything you don't want to see.
• Tampermonkey: This is a must-have tool that you won't know until you use it. It is essentially a web script manager. You don't need to know what it means. In short, you can install some small scripts through it to achieve many useful functions. For example, price comparison for e-commerce, ad-blocking for videos, search for resources on cloud storage platforms, optimize the interface of specific websites, etc. It can achieve a wide range of functions, so you need to explore it yourself. There are many articles online introducing it, so I won't go into details here. However, I don't recommend installing too many scripts as they can also affect performance.
• SwitchyOmega: A tool for setting browser proxies separately. It can also detect broken connections on the current website. You can even set different proxies for different domains to ensure the best connection status.
• RSSHub Radar: Another powerful tool. If you are used to using RSS feed services, you should know about it. It can convert almost any website into an RSS feed.

Conclusion#

In addition to these basic settings, browsers also have some keyboard shortcuts that, once familiar, can greatly improve efficiency. Here are a few shortcuts that I use frequently:

• Ctrl+L: Quickly search history, bookmarks, and URLs.
• Ctrl+T: Open a new tab.
• Ctrl+H: View history.
• Ctrl+J: View download list.

As you get used to these shortcuts over time and remember the locations of commonly used features, you will definitely save a lot of time. You don't need to follow all of my practices, as some of them may be too perfectionistic. It's better to choose and customize according to your own thoughts. If you have better tips and tricks, feel free to discuss and exchange ideas. Peace 🤟.