The web is more than just information

Two pieces discussing the role and future of browsers in people’s life got on my radar lately.

First, Rachel Lee Nabors gave a wonderful talk in Future Frontend about the death of the browser and second, I noticed this letter to Arc users by The Browser Company. These are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s been quite a lot of chatter in the interwebs about how chatbot interfaces will replace search and eventually visiting websites in general. Additionally, Google’s way of showing AI generated answers directly in the search is causing sites to struggle as Google has made it more difficult for the users to find their ways into websites.

I am writing this with full knowledge that this might be my ultimate generation gap moment. The moment when I become old and “can’t understand the kids these days”. I always hoped I’d be able to avoid that moment but I guess it comes to us all.

I’m sad if we see the web that we used to browse through in our browsers get hidden behind the curtains to only be a feeding machine to the LLMs that we interact with to get information.

Web is so much more than that. Web is the digital home and a shared world for many of us. The personal websites with their unique charm and quirks that showcase not only the information its creators share for you to read but the personality that comes through their design and structure.

I want more diversity, more expression, more experimentation in the web, not less. I don’t want a unified interface to information but I want to experience it through whimsical lenses of personal websites. I don’t want to be locked in to an LLM chat bot that is controlled by a commercial entity that eventually decides what I get to see and what not. I want my window to the web to be a tool that lets me explore what’s out there in ways where it doesn’t get on my way or decide for me.

I’m passionate about browsers because — even as the enshittification is reaching them as well — they are one of the few software out there that puts the power on the users’ hands. Through browser, I can customise my browsing experience, not willfully give it away to corporations and their whims. I can build and run browser extensions and bookmarklets to adjust and expand the capabilities of websites and apps. I can use extensions like Stylus to customise the look and feel of those sites to better fit my needs, not the needs of the capitalist machine looking to squeeze in every penny out of me.

I wanted to like Arc when it was released. I wanted new players in the industry that could challenge — or at least provide an option — to Chrome’s massive market share. Of course, being based on Chromium there was never any true possibility for that but their decision to require user account and their fierce push for LLM tools into our face made me never even get started with Arc.