Web browsers are getting very modern and complex at the same time. They let you browse websites, install applications, extensions and do a lot more. Sometimes it can also be a little distracting while working. But the browser that we are talking about in this post tries to bring you a minimal set of features. Colibri is a free browser for Windows that is so distraction free that it does not even come with Tabs.
Colibri browser review
The browser aims to deliver a different and distraction-free experience to its users. You only get a minimal set of features and interface. The browser is fully capable of browsing any website or application. It is just the outlook of it that makes you feel it is a minimal application.
Since this is a little unconventional browser, everything is a little different about it. Instead of downloading it directly from a website, you must enter your email where you receive your copy of Colibri.
Colibri supports account creation so that your data is synced. You can create a Colibri account and sign in to the browser to make sure you have all your data like bookmarks and lists backed up.
When you first see the browser, it will seem pretty much empty to you because it has been designed so. There is just an address bar, below that all your saved links, lists, and feeds are displayed.
And once you have opened a webpage, you will notice that address bar has also vanished. There are only a few controls like back, forward and refresh. Everything fits in nicely inside the title bar, and a lot of screen area is spared for the webpage. This seems a little unusual as we are used to conventional browsers where a lot of space is occupied by tabs, address bar, and the bookmarks bar.
Colobri has a great feature -Jst by typing the name of site you want to visit and Colibri will automatically direct you to it. Eg – Typing “open spotify” will open Spotify’s web app. Typing “chrome browser” will open Google’s Chrome download page.
A browser without Tabs for Windows PC
The browser is perfect if you keep a website/webpage open for quite some long and navigate away rarely. For instance, the browser can be easily used for any web-based POS applications. Or any other web app for that matter.
If you want to navigate away from a website, you need to hit the Toggle View button. And now you can enter the URL of the website that you want to navigate to. Another handy feature is the little plus icon; it lets you quickly bookmark a website. The added bookmarks show up under the Links tab.
Apart from Links, you can create lists to better organize your bookmarks. Colibri also lets you subscribe to feeds so that you are always up in the news game. There is a private mode available as well which will not persist your session once you close the window.
Apart from these features, Colibri offers a few customizations as well. For all the dark theme lovers, there is a dark mode available. Apart from that, you can change the default search engine. And on the privacy front, you can block third-party cookies and automatically send “Do Not Track” request. There is also a control that can enable/disable the Adobe Flash Player plugin.
Colibri is undoubtedly the most un-conventional browser I have ever used. It is designed with keeping productivity as its primary concern. It cannot replace your existing browser because it surely lacks some features such as tabs, history, extensions, address bar, etc. But it can be used for some productivity focused sessions as Colibri is totally distraction free.
Colibri is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is based on Chromium and last updated in 2021.