3 ms·

If you want to read the web as nicely formatted text, using the same large, easy to read font for every site, it can be done. If you want to browse sites as li

If you want to read the web as nicely formatted text, using the same large, easy to read font for every site, it can be done. If you want to browse sites as lists and make selections from lists like you did on gopher, it can be done. I have done a lot of work over the years on this for myself because this is how I prefer to retrieve, store and consume information. I have not run into many roadblocks. All that javascript and CSS really is optional. I rarely use "modern" browsers for accessing the web. I do use them on private LAN's to access local files, but only because smartphones and tablets force you to use them. On the web, I rewrite pages on the fly and view them with a text-only browser. Or I extract the bits I need from pages. In both cases usually I'm using a stream editor/filter, and sometimes a proxy if I'm modifying packets. Sometimes I put the results into csv or text files, kdb+, or cdb. If I want to start using a "modern" browser I can do that any day at any time. The "modern" browser is always there if and when I need it. No learning curve. Beginners always welcome. But to use the web effectively without using those graphical browsers could take practice for the uninitiated. I have practiced this for many years and it has become like second nature.

srpeck 10y ago
This is why I built Reading Mode as a Chrome extension (https://github.com/srpeck/readingmode https://github.com/srpeck/readingmode) - you can switch from modern browser to HTML only.
JadeNB 10y ago
> But to use the web effectively without using those graphical browsers could take practice for the uninitiated. I have practiced this for many years and it has become like second nature. Any tips? I would love to do this, both from my home computer and, all the more so, from my phone.
dredmorbius 10y ago
Could you describe your setup in more detail? I've long used Linux, vim, and w3m for various sorts of tasks, some curl and wget as well. Wget is often blocked by sites unless it spoofs a more common browser agent.) I have similar preferences to you, though of late I'm largely using graphical browsers (Firefox by preference, for flexibility, Chrome unfortunately has better performance, though especially on Android, virtually zero configurability. I've been thinking of scrapping much of this, un-rusting my emacs skills and doing something with: * Emacs. * Buffers. * Built-in browser. * Some local on-disk hierarchy essentially reflecting structure of websites I frequently access. Much of the information I access is actually pretty static, and there's a small subset of what I browse that's actually useful to keep. * Extracting just the usful bits from each page. The primary text content and associated graphics, mostly. Dynamic and interactive components are rare, and there I'll likely hit up a graphical browser, treating it more as an applications environment. * Metadata management. A standardised format of recording at least the site, publication date (if known), author (if known), access date, perceived quality, topic tags or categories (possibly a LoCCS hierarchy -- it's more sane than it seems), and a set of flags for issues (clickbait, bullshit, innacurracy, etc.) All this is shades of Vannevar Bush's Memex, though not a strict interpretation. * A ratings and reputation system. What authors, sites, and publishers are or aren't generally credible or high-quality. * Integrated management of multiple document formats: HTML, PDF, ePub, DJVU, Mobi, text, Markdown. * If possible, a presentation mode that's more similar to Pocket than just a monospace text presentation, though that might also work. * Annotations and notes. * Bibliography generation. Emacs strikes me as likely the perfet tool for much of this, with a bunch of built-in support already, from various modes, browsers, tools, Lisp, org-mode, etc. Just rambling....

srpeck 10y ago

This is why I built Reading Mode as a Chrome extension (https://github.com/srpeck/readingmode https://github.com/srpeck/readingmode) - you can switch from modern browser to HTML only.

JadeNB 10y ago

> But to use the web effectively without using those graphical browsers could take practice for the uninitiated. I have practiced this for many years and it has become like second nature. Any tips? I would love to do this, both from my home computer and, all the more so, from my phone.

dredmorbius 10y ago

Could you describe your setup in more detail? I've long used Linux, vim, and w3m for various sorts of tasks, some curl and wget as well. Wget is often blocked by sites unless it spoofs a more common browser agent.) I have similar preferences to you, though of late I'm largely using graphical browsers (Firefox by preference, for flexibility, Chrome unfortunately has better performance, though especially on Android, virtually zero configurability. I've been thinking of scrapping much of this, un-rusting my emacs skills and doing something with: * Emacs. * Buffers. * Built-in browser. * Some local on-disk hierarchy essentially reflecting structure of websites I frequently access. Much of the information I access is actually pretty static, and there's a small subset of what I browse that's actually useful to keep. * Extracting just the usful bits from each page. The primary text content and associated graphics, mostly. Dynamic and interactive components are rare, and there I'll likely hit up a graphical browser, treating it more as an applications environment. * Metadata management. A standardised format of recording at least the site, publication date (if known), author (if known), access date, perceived quality, topic tags or categories (possibly a LoCCS hierarchy -- it's more sane than it seems), and a set of flags for issues (clickbait, bullshit, innacurracy, etc.) All this is shades of Vannevar Bush's Memex, though not a strict interpretation. * A ratings and reputation system. What authors, sites, and publishers are or aren't generally credible or high-quality. * Integrated management of multiple document formats: HTML, PDF, ePub, DJVU, Mobi, text, Markdown. * If possible, a presentation mode that's more similar to Pocket than just a monospace text presentation, though that might also work. * Annotations and notes. * Bibliography generation. Emacs strikes me as likely the perfet tool for much of this, with a bunch of built-in support already, from various modes, browsers, tools, Lisp, org-mode, etc. Just rambling....