There's a new browser in town: Nyxt. It is free software. It is intended to be modified by the user, perhaps even rewritten. From https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/:
Built-in programmability.
Use the built-in REPL to program Nyxt. Run short scripts, and try out new workflows. Everything in Nyxt is fully extensible and modifiable.
It is written in Common Lisp.
Is this the browser we programmers have been waiting for? The one we can modify to our wildest dreams?
[Ed's comment: The linked source is obviously intended to show a potential user how it will work, and in this role it does a reasonable job. But there is not a great deal to explain why they think it is a game changer, or why it will appeal to many users. If it is necessary to use Lisp to extend the browser then perhaps it will not have the impact that they seem to believe it will have. But what do you think? Will it gain a foothold, or simply fade away to be forgotten except perhaps for a few enthusiasts?]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by owl on Friday March 01 2024, @11:04PM
Also not the point.
The point is that the present browsers already have a "built in" language (Javascript) that can be used, to some extent, to customize them, via at least 'bookmarklets'. And only a few of us geekier users even know bookmarklets exist, a smaller subset use one or more that someone else wrote on a regular basis, and an even smaller subset actually have written one for a particular customization we wanted.
Given that fact with current browsers, a browser with a Lisp interpreter for customization is not likely to see enough uptake to more than a mere curiosity.