The way Google has been stepping up its data collection game, it has prompted many people to opt for privacy-focused web browsers that respect their privacy by providing a secure browsing experience.
Floorp is one such web browser that I recently came across that claims to be “the most Advanced and Fastest Firefox derivative” around.
So, join me as I check out this browser.
Floorp: Overview ⭐
Being a fork of the popular Firefox browser, Floorp was built keeping privacy and user freedom in mind. It is a cross-platform web browser that prides itself in being completely open-source and not collecting any kind of personal information.
Some of its key features include:
- Big on Customizability
- Support for Workspaces
- Robust Anti-Tracking Features
Initial Impressions 👨💻
On first launch, it is easy to get Floorp mixed up with Firefox, as it looks very familiar. When I first launched it, the usual quick setup wizard popped up that helped me tailor my experience.
It had options such as importing browser data, choosing a template which would tweak the browser with different features, and finally the browser theme.
After the initial set up is done, a neat looking tab page opens up with a dynamic background that changes whenever you open a new tab. Then, there were the usual shortcuts, and recommended by Pocket elements. But, they can be disabled if you don't prefer having those.
The next thing you will notice is a neat looking sidebar menu that reminded me of the one found on Vivaldi. It provides similar functionality, with access to things like the bookmarks, history, downloads, notes, and even a Google Translate WebApp integrated directly into it.
You can customize the web panel, configure the settings for each icon, change their order, add, and remove options from it. The best part — you can reset all your changes back to the default in a single click, which is sometimes the most helpful feature.
There was also the option to add a custom WebApp by clicking on the plus symbol around the bottom. You could virtually add any website that has a decent interface using this for easy access while browsing.
Not just limited to the web panel, you get flexibility to change the behavior/view of the tabs.
By default, you get a horizontal tab. However, you can opt for a multi-row tab where you get more visibility to your active tabs, making it easy to dabble with multiple tabs.
In addition, you can also enable vertical tabs, but it is labelled as an experimental feature:
While these work perfectly fine, things like the horizontal-row tabs may not give you the best user experience.
The tracking protection is pretty similar to the one you get on Firefox with three different levels; Standard, Strict, and Custom.
Floorp also has something called “Floorp View” that lets you sync tabs from your other linked devices such as smartphones using a Mozilla account.
There is support for multiple workspaces too, something that Firefox doesn't provide out of the box.
Furthermore, you get to assign/change keyboard shortcuts from the settings, which is also a convenient ability:
If you have been following all our coverages, you must have noticed that it works similar to the Gecko Version of Midori. Well, that's because Midori is built as a fork of Floorp and implements many of its features.
So, you can decide on any one of the two as per your preferences.
And, answer the question in the title: is it the most advanced take on Firefox?
Yes, and no. If you look at the customizability, and abilities you get on top of Firefox, one can say that you can do a lot more with Floorp compared to vanilla Mozilla Firefox.
However, not everyone needs all the options available. So, for some, the additional options may or may not be useful.
Suggested Read 📖
Ankush Das
📥 Get Floorp
You can grab the latest release of Floorp from the official website for Linux, Windows, and macOS. There is also an official Flathub store listing for those who prefer Flatpak apps.
You can also install it via PPA with the following commands:
curl -fsSL https://ppa.ablaze.one/KEY.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/Floorp.gpg
sudo curl -sS --compressed -o /etc/apt/sources.list.d/Floorp.list 'https://ppa.ablaze.one/Floorp.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install floorpIf you are interested in the source code, you can head over to its GitHub repo.
💬 Would you prefer Floorp over Firefox? Let me know in the comments below!
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