Modern browsers are bloated pieces of glued together software, enormous in its bloatness. But that's what the whole web has become. As place that was decentralized by design has become a centralized one in the hands of a few companies which push development into the direction that is benenficial for them. (= $$$)
From a user's standpoint, there's nothing beneficial in it. Little progress has been made in functionality and speed (not to mention orginality) for almost two decades.
There's a saying on the wall behind me: "He is free who lives the way he wants". There is no reason (apart from earning your livelihood) why you need to put up with this!
Limit your use of the modern web to as few as possible. Especially (anti-) social media. I know what I'm talking about, because I did. I deleted my Amazon account three weeks ago. I deleted all social media except Facebook which I use for chat alone. (looking into alternatives at this very moment!)
All of my projects are and will be HTML 3.2 compatible. They will continue to work with Netscape 4 and even a Mac Quadra. They don't track people. They don't try to infringe on your privacy. They focus on helpful content instead of squeezing money out of your pockets.
We'll have to (re)build our own web, no way around it as I see it.
68k.news is a great example of how everyone can easily build a service that allows you to read the headlines even on an old Mac Plus. And why shouldn't you? The Macintosh Garden will go HTML 3.2 with its next iteration, you can check out their
progress right now.
There's already so many services, many of which you haven't even heard of yet. While we enjoyed exploring the richness of the web in the early days, many were dumbed down to start thinking that "The web == Google / Facebook / YouTube".
No, it's not. Open your eyes! Explore websites full of information instead of clickbait with the
wiby.org search engine for instance! It's a real eye-opener of what the web once was and has become!
There are already alternatives out there. Let's use them! Let's push them! Let's create new ones. Spit on "Big Tech", let's create a web 1.1 that takes the other way and helps creating the information super-highway that makes us better instead of making Bezos & others rich.
It needs us nerds to do the first step. Others will follow. Let's roll up our sleeve's and get the Web 1.1 idea going!
And who knows, once this is rolling we may get browsers who actually do what users want, that are slick and speedy and actually beneficial for their users.