What is Ouch Browser?

So, a few months ago, The Browser Company has released Arc Browser, this new web browser that really diverged from the traditional web browser style (think of it as GNOME), had good looks, and most importantly, didn't give up on privacy. I really liked the concept, but sadly, it was only available for macOS or Windows 11. So, instead of using Arc, I made my own.

Introducing Ouch Browser, a web browser based on GTK 4, libadwaita, and WebKit, the same technologies as GNOME Web, and with the tools I had on-hand, I went to work.

Contrary to what it may look like on Ouch's repo, this is not the complete history of Ouch. The early prototypes (or proof-of-concepts, if you will) were written in JavaScript using Workbench, and some snippets were used for the Rust port, which was built from the ground up.

During this time, I was forced to use Windows 11, which the base of Ouch's new codebase was written on (note that nowadays, Ouch will not compile on Windows), and I also was actually able to use Arc Browser, and took some design cues from Arc, and put it into Ouch. Then, I was finally able to migrate to Linux, where the real development started.

While doing this, I had realised that because the base development was made in Windows, GNOME Builder, GNOME's IDE, couldn't build Ouch. This was because no Flatpak version of Ouch existed at the time. I then scoured the long list of Flatpak manifests, stole Zed's manifest, and went to work on Flatpak-ing Ouch.

While developing Ouch, apparently, Arc Browser harvests the user's data, essentially being a full 180° on what The Browser Company claims on Arc's website. Just a reminder that none of Shrimple Technologies' products will harvest, nor sell your data.