Why I love the Arc Browser from the Browser Company:
This is my first post in a new series where I share thoughts about products I love.
The browser is ubiquitous. It’s a product that every single user of the internet depends on. Its the gateway for accessing the world-wide-web.
But it’s ironic that since the birth of the internet in the early 90’s (30+ years ago), there’s only been a handful of mainstream web browsers that we’ve had the opportunity to use. If you think hard about it, the model for the browser hasn’t changed much. For the longest time its simply been a single search bar in the middle of a screen. The browser basically looks back at you lazily and says, “What more do you want? I’ve done my job. You figure it out from here.”
We’ve kind of all just accepted that browsers are what they are and there’s nothing more to them. When we face usability issues with our browsers today, we often blame it on our personal lapses in efficiency or organization.
“I really need to get my life organized. I always have like a billion tabs open and I can never find what I’m looking for.”
“I get so distracted on my computer. I’ve been trying to work on this doc, but I’ve just been scrolling on Twitter all day.”
[~Insert other personal flaws or browser qualms here~]
There’s been an exponential level of innovation in Web apps and what we can do with the internet. I can easily create a revenue generating NFT marketplace web-app from my bedroom. But the Browser, the key gateway to the Web, has just been sitting back and watching the show for over 30 years. It’s akin to to the New York Subway system. While the city above is consistently changing, innovating, growing, the subway below is aging like that sponge you’ve been using for too long. I mean, “It does the job”.
Now, I’m not commenting at all on the incredible technical innovation in browsers and browser security. What I’m trying to emphasize is that there has been little effort put into making a user’s experience in a browser 10x or 100x better than it is today, more streamlined, functional, exciting, collaborative, and most importantly - delightful.
Or so I thought…
Enter Arc from the Browser Company:
I heard about the Arc Browser from a colleague about 6 months ago. When I first saw the teaser for the browser, I was really intrigued. It didn’t look like a browser to me, it looked like a completely different way to interact with the internet. And after tinkering with it for a few months, I’ve officially made it my default browser over Google Chrome. I want to share my take on why I love this browser and some ideas for how it can be made even better,
[If you’re interested in more background about the company and its founding team, here’s a great article. This video from founder, Josh Miller, is also worth a watch. He shares his vision for Arc to become the “Internet Computer”.]
Ok, let’s get started. Here are the features that have convinced me to make Arc my default browser over good ol’ Chrome.
The Sidebar
The Sidebar is basically the command center of Arc. It’s the place where everything lives. The Sidebar is broken down into four main sections: “Search”, “Bookmarks”, “Folders” or “Favorites”, and then below the horizontal line, designated by the “clear” button, are individual tabs.
Each section corresponds to the importance of a specific webpage and how long you want it to persist. For all of us that have a million tabs open at the end of the day, Arc clears all tab’s below the horizontal line automatically on a daily basis. So when you return to your sidebar the next day, its uncluttered and ready to go for a new day of work.
(You can also use CMD + S to toggle the sidebar and you basically get a fullscreen webpage viewer.)
The Command Bar
No matter where you are in the browser or what you’re doing, you can bring up the command bar to search for anything. It’s very similar to Spotlight Search on Mac and it’s the best way to navigate Arc quickly to find what you need.
(You can use CMD + T to toggle the command bar.)
Spaces and Folders
Spaces are one of the core ways that Arc empowers users to organize tabs. You can create any number of spaces for specific areas of focus, and they live on the sidebar. For example, in my browser I’ve created 3 spaces for “Work/Focus”, “Chillin (Leisure browsing)”, and “Food + Recipes”. This has helped me reduce tab clutter and also increased my ability to compartmentalize and stay focused on the tasks at hand within Arc.
Folders are a sub-layer of organization that live within Spaces. You can see that in my “Work/Focus” space I’ve created folders for tabs that I want to persist and return to. Spaces + folders offer endless combinations for tab organization in Arc.
(Switching between spaces is easy. Just swipe with two fingers on your Mac trackpad.)
Split-views
Split-views are a game changer. Say I want to read the news, re-learn how to tie my shoes, and check the weather. I can do all these things simultaneously on Arc without batting an eye. I think what really makes this feature successful is the low level of friction required to enter, exit, or manage a split view. Its pretty magical :)
The Library
You can access Arc’s library from the bottom of the Sidebar. The library is basically a repository that gives you easy access to files that live within Arc, on your desktop, or even in your downloads folder. The navigation bar at the top of the Arc library allows you to toggle between different views (All, Screenshots, Downloads, Desktop, and Notes/Easels). Instead of having to completely switch windows from browser to desktop to view the files on your computer, you can do it all within Arc itself.
Notes
We’ve all had random epiphanies while working or reading on the web. Where’d you go to write it down? Are you like me and have a million sticky notes on your desktop? Arc solves this pretty seamlessly by providing a place to write down your thoughts in a nifty Notes editor.
Easels
Easels are an even more versatile feature than notes. As the Arc team describes it, easels are a “Scrapbook for the Web”. You can capture magic screenshots (another amazing Arc feature) from the web. When you add them to an Easel, they will link back to the original page. For example, I’m currently shopping for a new snowboard rig. So I’ve created an Easel to track all of the gear options that I want to purchase. You can also create with text, drawings, and other functionality.
Boosts
Boosts are probably the most unique feature that Arc has. It’s a feature that really reflects Arc’s focus on flexibility and personalization. With Boosts you can edit the look, feel, or functionality of any website that you visit frequently and save your preferences in the browser. So the next time you visit YouTube.com it will render your own “personalized” version of the website.
There’s even an Arc Boosts store (similar to the Chrome extensions store) where you can find and download boosts that other Arc users or developers have created.
The above Arc boost allows user’s to hide Youtube shorts from your subscriptions page with one line of CSS. Imagine the possibilities.
I’m excited to see where the Arc team takes boosts from here. I could see the Boost marketplace as a potential source for monetization for the company as well.
There’s a ton of other highly empathetic features that I can list out here. I myself am discovering more each day I use Arc. But I think I’ve rattled off enough of them. I’ll let you download Arc and discover new delights yourself.
How will Arc make money?
This is something that I’ve been wondering a lot about. The team at Arc has created a really promising product, and they’ve also emphasized that they will not sell user data or lean on an advertising-based model. They definitely don’t want to follow the same model that legacy browsers like Google Chrome rely on.
In this video, founder Josh Miller calls out that a potential monetization source could be building Arc for teams. This would follow a model similar to Slack or any other SaaS subscription software which sells a per user subscription to businesses. I’m interested to see which approach they end up taking here.
What should Arc should build next?
A Collaborative Web Browser
We’re all used to collaborative tooling for working together on documents, presentations, spreadsheets etc (G-Suite, OneDrive). But I think Arc has an opportunity to build a toolset for collaboration at the browser level and helping Arc users get the most out of their browser experience. What if I could share some of my Arc spaces, folders, notes, or easels with another Arc user or a group of users? Arc could invest in bring user collaboration one level up from the web app level to the browser level.
Home Page/Welcome Screen
When I launch Arc in the morning to start a new day of work, it would be amazing to see a Home screen that acts as my personalized “welcome” to Arc. I could envision this screen as a place to check the weather, news, or even see the latest updates to Arc. Right now, seeing an empty screen when I launch the browser feels kind of a like a missed opportunity.
Templates (Marketplace) for Easels and Notes
Similarly to how Arc has created a marketplace for Boosts, there could be value in creating a similar marketplace for Easel and Notes templates. Say an Arc user has built the best template for trip planning - it should be easy for them to share it with others in the Arc community.
Wrapping Things Up
Arc is definitely still in its early stages as a product and there are a lot of things for the team to figure out. But based simply on their highly empathetic approach to product development, I have no doubt that the product is only going to get better from here. I can’t wait to see the what the team launches for the Arc Mobile browser.
What excites me is the company’s experimental and creative approach to product development. The company’s CEO, Josh put out a voice memo a few days ago sharing some late night thoughts about the position that they’re in right now. A quote that stuck with me was “No one [at the company] has any idea what we’re talking about. Instead of pretending that we know what we’re doing, let’s actually design the way we work around the assumption that “we don’t know” ”.
I love that statement. They’ve accepted that they are operating in a highly ambiguous space, and instead of fearing it, their thriving off of it.
That’s all I’ve got to say. Just wanted to share some my thoughts about this great product. Go download it and try it out yourself.