Yandex Gives Its Browser a Minimalist Makeover | Hacker News Reader

Yandex Gives Its Browser a Minimalist Makeover

techcrunch.com

89 pointsriaface38 comments

"reflect modern web user experience by emphasizing interaction and personalization"

Am I the only one who used to be but is no longer the target audience of the web?

I've been posting on forums and so on for years and years. Is that not interaction? You need a proper browser to use forums and browse the web properly. Removing or semi-hiding everything doesn't do that. How does hiding a URL make more "interaction and personalization"?

Removing settings, as "modern" UI's do, is the opposite of personalization! What if I PERSONALLY like a URL bar? How is it PERSONALIZED to me?

The web is the new app apparently.

Frankly i see design wankery invading computing left and right these days. Makes me feel like that old grump yelling about lawns...

Me three, I'm taking it as a sign that I am now over the hill. Isn't there a COBOL program on a mainframe I can be coding on somewhere?

COBOL won't save you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAhAz7JU0dg

I think the beautiful thing is, that you can use whatever browser you want. Yandex' is just another option, that might not be right for you, but might fit the needs of several others.

Unfortunately all the major browsers appear to be headed in this direction, so it's only an illusion of choice.

WebKit is open source, and it's easy to make your own if you want to.

This sort of doublespeak seems not uncommon amongst browser vendors lately, and Yandex is no exception. They run a search engine just like Google, so they also want to encourage its use instead of URLs. The difficulty of entering a direct URL with this browser and deemphasising its presence is no doubt a deliberate decision in this direction, and meanwhile they divert attention away from this by emphasising all the non-functional eyecandy.

These are displayed on an animated backdrop, with very little other interface furniture to clutter up the look and feel of the page

By convincing users that anything other than what these companies want them to see/use is "clutter" and "distraction", and therefore unnecessary, they can achieve better control over them. As the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind." It's both sad and a little amusing that they're basically saying implicitly "we removed all these things we thought you won't ever use... but you can have a pretty picture to look at."

The "modern web user experience" is all about taking control and freedom away from the users - giving it to "content providers" - and conditioning the users to like it and accept it complacently. I think it's the exact opposite of the ideals of the web.

If you haven't seen the current customization options in Firefox I advise you to check there, you can move all buttons and bars, add new buttons and tailor your UI to your taste.

I took a shot while writing this post showing the customization screen:

http://andregarzia.com/shots/Customize_Firefox_Developer_Edi...

Firefox still the most customizable browser out there.

But why is the refresh button missing there?

It's not missing, it's inside the address bar on the right.

I mean missing from the customization. They allow you to move around and customize buttons, but not the refresh button - which, given its awkward position, would be the first one you want to customize.

Can you move those tabs just above webpage without third party addon? I know Classic Theme Restorer solves it, but Firefox also keeps changing stuff I got used to like every other release.

I don't get why they can't leave it alone for existing users and ask explicitly if I want to turn on all those new fancy features on updates. I don't mind if options will be hidden in about:config.

Do you know that it steals all of your credentials and session cookies from other browsers?

I did an install, realized that I already logged in facebook, gmail and some other websites. How come this is done so easily? So I immediately removed it from my pc.

I don't suggest anyone to install it. I learnt from the hard way.

It would be a nice feature, if done with permission. (Which I wouldn't give it in a million years, but that's me.)

Other browsers do this by asking. But it's pointless anyway because most people will not know what a cookie is and they leave that check box checked.

Are you sure that? Other browsers import bookmarks, history etc but not cookies, especially session cookies.

http://www.valdosta.edu/administration/it/its/css/helpdesk/i...

http://www.soft32.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Select...

So far, I thought cookies are stored encrypted. That's bad, very bad.

what the hell is session cookies !?!?

Session cookie is a cookie which is created when you enter a website so that website understand you are s unique user. It is also used to prove you are a logged in user ın facebook, twitter etc. If you hsve someone's session cookies, you can login his profile without pasword

I know session; i know cookie but what is session cookie?

If you install native software and it is malicious, you are already owned. This is uncorrelated to the visible use of other apps' data locally. This is your data and it is still on your PC, why bother?

Perhaps it also forwards them to the Russia security service?

hahaha nice one. It did, but fortunately it got hold on the chrome (default browser) install and not the chromium or the FF one.

Is this because it's really just a different skin on chromium? What is your other browser? If it's chromium, maybe it's just using all the same config and saved state.

Accordıng to them, new yande browser is chromeless. Other browser is chrome. But also I remind you that, if you install chromium when chrome is already installed, it doesn't import cookies.

We Want Chromeless: https://vimeo.com/95800398 Get Involved: http://code.higg.im/chromeless/

For the security pedants, I didn't overlook security:

    Before Fullscreen got launched, there was a heated discussion on the possible security implications of Fullscreen. Couldn't attacker X just mimic a fake browser window, simulate a bank's login screen (address bar et al), and steal login info? Phishing does the exact same thing, but the URL is always cunningly disguised as the real URL. For example: http://bankofamerica.com.87654321.com/login.do. With an exact replica of the Operating System, as-well, as a browser mockup, it can be quite possible to mimic the real URL, so all the user sees is http://bankofamerica.com/login.do. 

    When fullscreen got launched, obviously the Mozilla team did their homework. Firstly, the user knows very well they're entering fullscreen mode (via a very well placed message). As-well as this, the user always has to "click", or otherwise activate Fullscreen through a button. Click-jacking, however is out of the question with Fullscreen. (I've tried it). You can't fire-up Fullscreen by emulating a click. So with this in mind, Chromeless Windows should adapt the same pattern.

Also noteworthy:

Using the HTML5 Fullscreen API for Phishing Attacks http://feross.org/html5-fullscreen-api-attack/

Mozilla Full-screen API Security Review https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Reviews/Firefox10/CodeEdit...

I guess I got older version when I followed the first url to download. In any case, yet another browser with demented tab switching order. Why do the they do it?

edit: Installed the alpha version.

What I find interesting is that regular Yandex detected Opera installation and imported data from there. Alpha version imported from Firefox (though I still had the Yandex installed).

Okay - once I open a new tab, how do I type a url in? :)

I know i can do this from the main tab (the speed dial, or whatever this is called) - only ctrl+enter shortcut doesn't work (while it's correctly handled by every browser I know of, but it's alpha).

But I don't like having to return to the main screen every time I want to navigate to a new address...

⌘-L or click on the title of the page in the top bar.

I've got to say I really like this browser, well done!

I'm on Windows. Ctrl+L doesn't work, nor does clicking on the title of the page (I tried even that!)

Enter it into the edit field :P (I know it seems surprising)

Duh, you don't say ;) Where's the edit field exactly? Is it the "New Tab - Yandex" area?

Clicking on it does nothing, typing does nothing.

And I can't really spot any other candidates for the "edit field" role... Screenshot: http://i60.tinypic.com/34hjfd1.jpg

Looks broken, have you clicked around randomly? ;) I see some nice cloud animation and tiles and stuff...: http://de.tinypic.com/r/jzk3ys/8

Yes, I can also see the "speed dial" screen with eye-pleasing animations, and I can navigate to any given website FROM THAT SCREEN.

I can't do a thing from the blank new tab, though. So what's the point of it?

502 Bad Gateway

http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/browser.yandex.com/future...

Cached: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...

Edit: back online after 5 minutes

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