> a simple browser for the masses [with] more user friendly UI
I think you mean GNOME Web/Epiphany. They both use libwebkit2gtk (https://webkitgtk.org/) as a base (as does luakit, a fairly simple and customizable browser that I’ll probably switch to if/when Palemoon breaks Pentadactyl).
I've tried Epiphany, but it's still too bloated for my preferences, not customizable enough and I'd like to keep GNOME packages out of my system. :)
Luakit is more to my liking, and I think I gave it a try a few years ago but can't remember what put me off about it. At first glance it has features I don't need like adblocking (I use a DNS blocker on my router) and tabs, but it's promising. I'll give it another try, thanks.
I've also tried a few of these libwebkitgtk wrappers like qutebrowser, dwb, lariza, uzbl, etc. but they all had some drawbacks compared to surf.
And I can't say I trust the Palemoon or Waterfox developers to maintain a Firefox fork. It's a gargantuan job, which is why I prefer the relative simplicity of the WebKit wrappers. Ideally I'd like to switch to a simpler rendering engine as well, but sadly the modern web is built with WebKit compatibility in mind.
I think you mean GNOME Web/Epiphany. They both use libwebkit2gtk (https://webkitgtk.org/) as a base (as does luakit, a fairly simple and customizable browser that I’ll probably switch to if/when Palemoon breaks Pentadactyl).