currently, the pure browser start page (what shows when you open a new tab) is empty, there’s an issue on the tracker relating to this but no one has any ideas on what to put on the home page. So what would you like the home page of the pure browser to include?
(Isn’t this a bikeshedding sort of question?)
Simple answer: blank is fine. This way, it presents no distraction or slowdown for end-users and spares people who want a blank start page from having to customise it to get it that way.
Any end-users who want something specific can customise their own browser to their own particular requirements. Please don’t force those preferences on all new users.
Also, keeping that page blank by default avoids wasting Purism staff time on something that is unimportant relative to Purism’s goals. Please, focus on the hardware and firmware, which is Purism’s USP. Thank you.
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If the goals of privacy, security, and freedom are only intended for the techies of the world, then Purism fails. People give up theses things today because of convenience. So if Purism is serious, they have to create products which are just as convenient.
Mass adoption is more important than you might initially believe. A populace that wantonly gives up these things mean legislation can pass that further erodes our digital rights. It means that the little bubble you’ve made will continue to grow smaller and smaller until it’s near pointless to begin with.
The real truth is that their is no reason why we can’t maintain our rights and still use convenient software that allows us to focus on doing things. This is partially, I imagine, one of the reason why Purism rolls their own OS.
Bringing this back around to this thread, a start page could appeal to a non-techie, who would prefer a news source or other start page that is useful and aids in this convenience. Is it a necessity? Of course not.
I agree. Nevertheless, Purism has finite resources and must prioritise appropriately.
Personally, I think that getting Heads finished would be a far greater win for user-friendly security than to spend time rearranging the deckchairs on the browser start page. Therefore, getting Heads shipped as standard, and making other firmware fixes that impact the usability and/or security of the Purism hardware, are where Purism developer time should be prioritised.
When Purism has reached the point that all Librems have a user-friendly verifiable boot chain, all of the basic firmware functions are error-free, and the speakers can’t eavesdrop, then perhaps Purism developer time could reasonably be devoted to less critical tasks.
A browser homepage is a really simple affair literally just a html document most of the time. I’m thinking a nice picture with the logo, a searchbar and some quick links.
It would be cool to have your public IP listed so you can easily see if your connected via a vpn, although i don’t know how to ut that into html? will think
Your public IP is listed on the ipleak site. To know if your VPN is working or not, you’d need to know your ISP’s public IP for you.
As long as the start page is not a online webpage I won’t complain.
What I would prefer though would be a “most visited websites” list such as on Chrome and Firefox which is very useful.
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Whatever it is, please make it a file:// uri. I don’t think applications should make unnecessary network traffic by default.
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