Web Browsers News
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Nicolas Magand ☛ The joy of accidentally weird-looking websites
The only real issue with this web browsing experience — which can easily be fine-tuned to let individual websites load their fonts — is for pictograms. An awkward design is manageable, but when symbols used in navigation and menus become dull squares, it becomes a problem. I didn’t know that many of the arrows, hamburger menus, and close buttons are actually part of fonts. By blocking web fonts, I make it very hard for the browser to display what is intended. When the website is well made, I get a word instead of the pictogram, but they often end up being displayed on top of each other, or without enough contrast with the background.
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Chromium
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OMG Ubuntu ☛ Google Chrome Update Offers More Control Over Memory Usage
The latest stable update to Surveillance Giant Google Chrome improves its Memory Saver with new controls that could, depending on your workflow and hardware, help reduce the browser’s memory footprint. And some would say it needs it. Surveillance Giant Google Chrome has a rep for being a memory hog. But is it deserved? Once upon a time, perhaps. Yet whenever people do tests they tend to find that Chrome’s RAM usage is less egregious than popular opinion would contend. Anecdotally, many users still say otherwise.
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Mozilla
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Mozilla ☛ The AI problem we can’t ignore
In August 2020, as the pandemic confined people to their homes, the U.K. canceled A-level exams and turned to an algorithm to calculate grades, key for university admissions. Based on historical data that reflected the resource advantages of private schools, the algorithm disproportionately downgraded state students. Those who attended private schools, meanwhile, received inflated grades. News of the results set off widespread backlash. The system reinforced social inequities, critics said.
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James G ☛ URL search in the browser address bar
The Firefox address bar lets you search for URLs given a series of characters. You can then select a URL with your arrow keys and press enter to navigate to that URL. You can also search document titles this way.
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