Tor Browser only render HTML for local pages via file://, no images/CSS
In Tor Browser 7.0.10 (and earlier too, see below), if I open a local page via file:// only the HTML is rendered, but images are broken and CSS isn’t applied at all.
So I presume this broke in Whonix at that time, devs reacted, and the community has had the unpretty ASCII every since.
Doesn’t look like anybody complained about it breaking since then over on trac.torproject.org, so it would probably be a low-risk change if Whonix reverted to using a nice hi-def image (2020 logo version).
Its nice to have search engines added to whonix welcome page but there are some notices one them and better changes:
Qwant
When searching using https://www.qwant.com/ with safest TBB it will redirect user to https://lite.qwant.com/ and if you type anything for search it wont search for you. a plus+ its proprietary, centralized search engine
This one is nice that you can search without JS. but its Proprietary and blocking Tor users to view their blog content (over cloudflare) e.g: (although cookies are enabled in TBB while browsing anyway)
Please enable cookies.
Error 1001 Ray ID:72dc65d21acclda2 • 2020-05-07 14:22:18 UTC
DNS resolution error
What happened?
You’ve requested a page on a website (blog.ecosia.org) that is on the Cloudflare network. Cloudflare is currently unable to resolve your requested domain (blog.ecosia.org). There are two potential causes of this:
Most likely: if the owner just signed up for Cloudflare it can take a few minutes for the website’s information to be distributed to our global network.
Less likely: something is wrong with this site’s configuration. Usually this happens when accounts have been signed up with a partner organization (e.g., a hosting provider) and the provider’s DNS fails.
Cloudflare Ray ID: 72dc65d21acclda2 • Your IP: 2615:8120:8040:6ca1::1d1:8d66 • Performance & security by Cloudflare
But this can be useful at least while using safest tbb security option.
Why is Peekier added to the local homepage? It is hosted by Cloudflare and does not work without JavaScript. Its ownership is also undefined. This does not seem trustworthy to me.
I think it would be good to prefer onion services on the homepage. Metager’s onion service can be shown in English. Would that make it suitable to replace the clearnet link?
My arbitrary criteria:
It’s alternative search engines which provide less censored / more interesting search results. Whonix doesn’t receive payment for any listings. Considered candidates are those having good quality, less censored search results.
Privacy by policy / ownership / location / hosted by which data center is not considered. There is no escape from cloudshare / AWS:
Fastly’s global edge cloud platform processes, serves, and secures applications as close to users as possible, at the edge of the network. Fastly generously hosts our Tor Browser update downloads that can be fetched anonymously.
High risk of law of triviality / bikeshed. There’s no way to optimize for all goals at once. I don’t intent to spend a lot time debating favorite colors (choice of search engines).
These URLs doesnt look needed, Why telegram exist while we have forums/discourse news section? Even its more secure to make the user visit forums since its support onion connection.
DuckDuckGo
Not sure why its at the bottom of the page while its the default search engine of TB, I see no value point of having it again. (you can replace it with one of searx search engines similar to yacy or just remove it)
Related, posted here an update regarding the 2022 end of year donation banner campaign:
To answer your suggestion, coincidentally, just a day earlier or so work was done to ship the same banner in Whonix Welcome Page in Tor Browser. An update to whonix-welcome-page will be pushed in the next few days.
The banner does not result in making any external connections. All contents are load locally unless the user clicks a link.
The 2022 end of year banner campaign will automatically end on 01.01.2023.
Remove peekier from TB start page as its not anymore accessible for users to search without payment, and now redirecting to different company called kagi.