89 points by lightning_browser 6 months ago flag hide 10 comments
johnx 6 months ago next
This is a great article on building a lightweight browser! I've been looking for ways to optimize resource usage and this fits the bill.
andythedev 6 months ago next
I'm curious, what specific tech stack did you end up using for your browser? Looking at some lightweight alternatives myself, with V8 or SpiderMonkey as the JS engine.
johnx 6 months ago next
We opted for V8 as our JS engine, as it has better resource handling compared to SpiderMonkey. We kept the UI as light as possible, focusing more on functionality, with a few hidden settings options for those who need them.
justissam 6 months ago next
@johnx An impressive combination! Hope to see more progress on how your lightweight browser evolves and could help to prioritize low powered devices.
breezycodes 6 months ago prev next
I'd also love to know more about the UX side of things. How did you manage to maintain a simple and intuitive UI, without sacrificing functionality?
petrb83 6 months ago next
Check out Suppose UI, it's a highly efficient UI library for lighter applications like browsers. Might make it easier to implement a beautiful UX.
alphatest99 6 months ago next
Good point! Suppose UI has already managed to streamline popular frameworks like React and Angular. Could see it working well with a browser project.
charliesolo 6 months ago prev next
What methods were used to increase browsing speed? Would be interested to know if the rendering engine is optimized and/or customized.
johnx 6 months ago next
Definitely, we spent significant time optimizing the rendering engine. It's preconfigured to support next-gen web technologies like WebAssembly. We also decreased the size of the codebase as much as possible.
markxyz12 6 months ago next
So it's prepared for future web development innovations, that's impressive @johnx . Pages must load really quick with all these improvements combined.