GNOME Web: A Web Browser Integrates Well With GNOME Desktop Environment

Open software (aka gnome-software) and key in “Web“. Click its installation page and select the Install button. Fun fact: Web is also known as Epiphany browser. So if you want to install the program on a terminal session, you can key in its name as “epiphany-browser” on the prompt.

​On GNOME desktop environment the download and installation will take less time than on other desktop environments such as XFCE, KDE, Cinnamon, etc since the browser is well integrated with it.

Below are some screenshots providing a general overview of the Web browser user interface:​- Loading DuckDuckGo homepage on the first tab. The window is resized slightly small so the buttons and URL bar appears too close to each other.

– The breadcrumb option list. Unlike Google Chrome and Firefox, Web has a minimal menu list and some commonly used tools on its breadcrumb option list.

– GNOME panel option list. The list is akin to a menu bar on most modern application UIs. You can access the browser settings from this list and also manage window tabs, browsing history, view browser version, etc.

Web integrates well with GNOME Linux distros like Fedora, Ubuntu, etc and gives you the best native look and feel. GNOME techs would call it “conforming with HIG (Human Interface Guidelines)”.​Moreover, due to its good integration with the GNOME desktop environment, the browser launches faster than Firefox. So if you want a browser that is fast and renders the modern web technologies well, Web might be for you. However, every good thing has a bad thing as well. Read on below why.

Unlike major Internet browsers, Web cannot be extended with more functionalities such as installing additional add-ons. There is no customizing Web with themes, installing your favorite add-on tool to maximize your web productivity, etc Instead you’ll have a basic web browser application that you can browse the Internet with.

Those are the two features most security fanatics care and praises about. Even I have those stuff set up on my primary web browser: Firefox 😉

Web has a cool reader mode so you get clutter free web content served to you. Reader mode is useful for clearing those unneeded contents served on a web page. It is accessible on the URL bar once the page is loaded. Unfortunately, like most Internet browsers Web too suffers from rendering some blogs and articles ugly when viewed on reader mode.

Web is a cool Internet browser that integrates well with GNOME desktop. Though it has fewer features for most netizens, the application is constantly updated with new cool features. I’m expecting they might support extending its features with add-ons too in the future 🙂 Hope you are excited about Web. Try it out and let me know what you think about this browser in the comment section below.