Wonder Tools

Share this post
The best new browser 👀
wondertools.substack.com

The best new browser 👀

Arc gives the Web a fresh look

Jeremy Caplan
Jul 21
17
6
Share this post
The best new browser 👀
wondertools.substack.com
Listen to this post
1.0×
0:00
-6:31
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.

Most Web browsers look the same. So I've been delighted to discover Arc recently, a new browser that feels fresh. No tabs up top. No bookmark bar. Just a clean view of the site you're visiting. And lots of useful features, noted below. It’s in closed beta; join a waitlist to gain access. After using it for a couple of weeks, it’s become my favorite way to access the Web. Read on for what I find most useful, and some caveats. 

Share

Why Arc is a great new browser

It's cleaner and less cluttered  

My Chrome browser gets messy quickly. Lots of tabs. Too many bookmarks. Distracting ads. OneTab helps compact the tabs, and Raindrop helps organize my bookmarks, but Chrome still feels messy.

Arc has a neater side drawer to show active links. You just tap it closed — or use a keyboard shortcut — to focus on a site full screen.

Split view lets you see multiple sites at once

You can open up to four side-by-side browser windows. I often open a reference doc while editing something online. Or I open my calendar while responding to an email. Two windows is usually enough. If you don’t use Arc you can set that up with window-managing software like Divvy, but it's nicely native to Arc. It's particularly useful when using the built-in notes and easel feature. 👇 

Notes and Easel 

Arc's notepad lets you take notes within the browser. I used it to type this outline about its features. You can also sketch out ideas or annotate images like this with Arc's built-in Easel. These work well in combination with split view, because you can note things without leaving your browser, then easily share those notes and annotations with a link.

Fortunately, you can open a split view with whatever Web-based notes tool you prefer. I usually prefer to take notes in Roam. An alternative is to use the Quick Note feature on your Mac with Apple Notes. If you have macOS Monterey 12, just press Function-Q or drag your mouse to the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and you can start a note from anywhere on your computer. 

Arc’s built-in note-taking feature works well with its split view option.Take notes while surfing or copy-paste across pages.

Spaces and folders 

Rather than relying on bookmarks, Arc has you pin favored sites onto a side drawer. You can drop them into folders. Or you can group sites into completely separate spaces, if you want to separate work from home, for example. I have distinct spaces for a few of my projects.

Mini browser

You can open up a mini-version of Arc to quickly look something up by hitting Command-Option-N from anywhere on your computer. It’s handy if you’re working in another app but need to Google something without switching contexts.

Quick preview

You can scroll over icons for the apps you use most to get a quick preview of what’s in them. For example, without opening up your Google calendar, scroll over its icon to see upcoming meetings. Or get a sneak peek at Gmail messages.

Scroll and watch

Videos stay open while you look at another site. That’s useful if you’re watching an informational video and want to see notes while the video continues playing.

Cycle through tabs

Press Control-Tab to cycle through tabs, along the lines of how you can scrub through applications on your computer with Command-Tab. These keyboard shortcuts are great if you’re jumping back and forth between sites.

Automatic tab clean-up 

Like a digital Roomba, Arc closes up tabs you haven't used for a while. The default is auto-cleanup every 12 hours, but you can set it to happen monthly instead. You can check the archive for a view of everything that's been auto-closed or that you manually shut. You can also quickly clear a bunch of tabs that you’re done using.

For a clean slate, hit clear to wipe your sidebar clean

Overall, a fresh browser design that I like

Given that a browser is basically a window into the Web, its design may not seem like a big deal. But after using Arc for a couple of weeks, I appreciate a lot of the subtle ways in which it works better for me than Chrome.

Share Wonder Tools

Caveats

No bookmarklets yet 

Arc doesn't yet support bookmarklets, those little browser buttons you press to clip things from the Web. I use Web clippers from Notion, Coda, Airtable, Eagle and Evernote, for example, to save Web content. Arc doesn’t yet support that. Arc also isn’t yet fully integrated with 1Password. It does work with Chrome extensions like Save to Instapaper.

Mac-only, for now

No Windows version yet, though it’s in the works. Mac users have to wait for an invite.

Business model?

Arc’s free for now, but the company may charge business users for future features, according to Austin Carr’s Bloomberg story. (I haven’t found value yet in the advanced Boost feature, which lets you customize a site’s styling— to change its color on your screen, replace its content, or to inject your own content).

Minor set-up friction

You have to wait to start using Arc, then you'll encounter a brief set-up period. Google Meet and other apps that use your Web camera and microphone require you to confirm permissions on a new browser. Your saved passwords from a prior browser should flow in nicely, assuming you allow Arc to import those. 

Alternatives 

Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Edge are three of the most popular existing alternatives to Google’s Chrome browser. Each adopts a nearly identical interface, though, so they feel interchangeable. If you do use Chrome, I wrote about the best Chrome add-ons.

Vivaldi is growing in popularity. It can block ads and tracking software, and includes built-in tools for calendar and email.

Brave and Opera are also widely-praised options. They emphasize privacy and security, but I found their designs clunkier than Arc and encountered friction when I originally tried switching to them from Chrome. 

POLL
Loading...

Leave a comment

Share

🎁 Catch up on recent posts to find new books 📚 you’ll love, make your own gifs, or simplify your to-do list.

Twitter avatar for @jeremycaplanJeremy Caplan @jeremycaplan
Applications are open! As you build something new, grow your network by joining the 5th global cohort of our 100-day online Journalism Creators Program @newmarkjschool @NewmarkJPlus. More info:
bit.ly/newmarkjcp Watch 📺 below, 6 reasons to apply👇#EJCP Spread the word!

July 20th 2022

3 Retweets5 Likes
6
Share this post
The best new browser 👀
wondertools.substack.com
6 Comments

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

ajfa
Jul 21·edited Jul 21Liked by Jeremy Caplan

Security should really be everyone's top priority now. Do not believe our isp's and the brands that made our hardware have our best interests in mind. Appreciate design but it must not come first. You want your ip hidden, your ads and malware blocked, and https-only, among other things. brave is very fast, for a safety oriented browser.

Expand full comment
ReplyCollapse
1 reply by Jeremy Caplan
Dávid Lévai
Writes Business of IT Jul 21Liked by Jeremy Caplan

There're a bunch of new browsers promising to fix this market.

• Arc

• Orion (my fav)

• Mighty

• Another one using the spaces concept that I can't remember now

Expand full comment
ReplyCollapse
2 replies by Jeremy Caplan and others
4 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2022 Jeremy Caplan
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing