How to create a minimal installation in VMware Player for browsing?

I recommend ubuntu-vm-builder (see documentation), which is really a large wrapper around debootstrap which will create about as minimal an image as you can possibly use.

I am not sure if the "minimal" CD provides the minimal install option, you can do a minimal install using either the alternate CD or the server CD. The minimal install will install only core components (no GUI). Then you can install the packages just as you need, from the terminal: sudo apt-get install packagename

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends firefox openbox leafpad pcmanfm gwget xterm

then follow this guide to add firefox to your openbox session if you need it to autostart.
I added the extra applications because you might need them to actually work with your new "distro", but you don't need them and you can replace them with better alternatives.

NB: to get a menu in openbox, right-click.