3 ms·

While the article mentions alternatives like links and w3m, I'd like to hear HN's opinion on links vs w3m vs lynx.

synergy20 2y ago
i use w3m, last time checked it's more updated than lynx. w3m is also utf8 ready,lynx not. w3m-img can display images in terminal,lynx can't
inopinatus 2y ago
some web pages are best read using curl or nc <hostname> 80
- jmclnx 2y ago
  Last I heard, RMS does something similar to this.
artiliran 2y ago
I always found links the most pleasant. A big factor was how often lynx asked about cookies, but now I know from the article I can set it to reject all I might revisit lynx. w3m seemed to set itself apart with the ability to show graphics which I didn't care about so never really gave it a chance.
- every 2y ago
  I have my lynx set to accept all cookies (makes for far less bother) but somehow seem to have forgotten to tell lynx where to store them. Logout of the browser and "poof" they all disappear...
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  elinks / elinks2, both based AFAIU on links, offer graphics support. So the option's there for you without much change in muscle memory, should you want it. I use w3m, though largely w/o graphics support.
dcassett 2y ago
Linux user here. I use links in graphical mode (links -g) quite a bit. It's easy to turn image display on and off with the '*' key. Image sizes can be scaled with the menu and they take effect immediately. If one hovers over an image link and types "i", the image itself is displayed, and there's an option to scale the image to fit the window. Getting a new links window is easy (Alt-F n). One gripe is that hitting Ctrl-C will close the window (the 'Q' key does this already) I use lynx as a second line of defense when some sites refuse to work with links, because lynx is sometimes able to display them (different user agent?). I also have been recently using lynx within xterm (disabling the alternate screen) for forums where posted URLs are not clickable (text only) in combination with xterm's dabbrev-expand() function to quickly copy such URLs in lynx's goto prompt. As an aside: in xterm's misc.c there's a a macro (IS_WORD_CONSTITUENT) that can be easily expanded to exclude characters that are not part of a URL, such as braces. I do worry that more and more websites will simply show "Suspicious Activity Detected" for these browsers. As mentioned so many times on HN, text browser users are a minority and text browsers are obsolete. I did once send a message to a website owner and later saw that I could access the site, but didn't get an acknowledgement by email, so I can't be sure if it was in response to my request. There still are some websites that degrade gracefully, and, despite complaints by the server, allow text input windows and submit buttons to still work.
magarnicle 2y ago
I use lynx to view HTML emails in Neomutt, but if I want to browse the web I use w3m as it doesn't whine at me about cookie storage multiple times for every site.
dredmorbius 2y ago
w3m here, for a number of reasons: - Vim-like keybindings. I've used lynx off and on for decades, but can never internalise its keybindings, and I'm constantly surprised (in a bad way) and frustrated. - Support for table-based layout. This is less frequently encountered online these days, though some sites (HN and pg's own blog site) still use tables. - Graphics support, should you want that. - Extensive settings with a good management interface. - Pretty darned good bookmarks management. My w3m bookmarks page is my default homepage for the browser, and gives ready access to a bunch of useful sites. - Better default formatting settings, in particular concerning paragraph breaks and the like. Lynx to me is too crowded when rendering webpages. - Most of what Lynx can do w3m does as well, in terms of basic functionality, piping input and output, etc. I fairly regularly try out other terminal browser options (lynx, links, elinks, etc.) but w3m is my happy place.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Oh, and tabs, as TFA mentions. I find this useful, and the interface is pretty manageable, though I tend to avoid the extreme tab proliferation typical of my Firefox sessions (100s or 1,000s of tabs).
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]

i use w3m, last time checked it's more updated than lynx. w3m is also utf8 ready,lynx not. w3m-img can display images in terminal,lynx can't

inopinatus 2y ago

some web pages are best read using curl or nc <hostname> 80

jmclnx 2y ago
Last I heard, RMS does something similar to this.

artiliran 2y ago

I always found links the most pleasant. A big factor was how often lynx asked about cookies, but now I know from the article I can set it to reject all I might revisit lynx. w3m seemed to set itself apart with the ability to show graphics which I didn't care about so never really gave it a chance.

every 2y ago
I have my lynx set to accept all cookies (makes for far less bother) but somehow seem to have forgotten to tell lynx where to store them. Logout of the browser and "poof" they all disappear...
dredmorbius 2y ago
elinks / elinks2, both based AFAIU on links, offer graphics support. So the option's there for you without much change in muscle memory, should you want it. I use w3m, though largely w/o graphics support.

dcassett 2y ago

Linux user here. I use links in graphical mode (links -g) quite a bit. It's easy to turn image display on and off with the '*' key. Image sizes can be scaled with the menu and they take effect immediately. If one hovers over an image link and types "i", the image itself is displayed, and there's an option to scale the image to fit the window. Getting a new links window is easy (Alt-F n). One gripe is that hitting Ctrl-C will close the window (the 'Q' key does this already) I use lynx as a second line of defense when some sites refuse to work with links, because lynx is sometimes able to display them (different user agent?). I also have been recently using lynx within xterm (disabling the alternate screen) for forums where posted URLs are not clickable (text only) in combination with xterm's dabbrev-expand() function to quickly copy such URLs in lynx's goto prompt. As an aside: in xterm's misc.c there's a a macro (IS_WORD_CONSTITUENT) that can be easily expanded to exclude characters that are not part of a URL, such as braces. I do worry that more and more websites will simply show "Suspicious Activity Detected" for these browsers. As mentioned so many times on HN, text browser users are a minority and text browsers are obsolete. I did once send a message to a website owner and later saw that I could access the site, but didn't get an acknowledgement by email, so I can't be sure if it was in response to my request. There still are some websites that degrade gracefully, and, despite complaints by the server, allow text input windows and submit buttons to still work.

magarnicle 2y ago

I use lynx to view HTML emails in Neomutt, but if I want to browse the web I use w3m as it doesn't whine at me about cookie storage multiple times for every site.

dredmorbius 2y ago

w3m here, for a number of reasons: - Vim-like keybindings. I've used lynx off and on for decades, but can never internalise its keybindings, and I'm constantly surprised (in a bad way) and frustrated. - Support for table-based layout. This is less frequently encountered online these days, though some sites (HN and pg's own blog site) still use tables. - Graphics support, should you want that. - Extensive settings with a good management interface. - Pretty darned good bookmarks management. My w3m bookmarks page is my default homepage for the browser, and gives ready access to a bunch of useful sites. - Better default formatting settings, in particular concerning paragraph breaks and the like. Lynx to me is too crowded when rendering webpages. - Most of what Lynx can do w3m does as well, in terms of basic functionality, piping input and output, etc. I fairly regularly try out other terminal browser options (lynx, links, elinks, etc.) but w3m is my happy place.

dredmorbius 2y ago
Oh, and tabs, as TFA mentions. I find this useful, and the interface is pretty manageable, though I tend to avoid the extreme tab proliferation typical of my Firefox sessions (100s or 1,000s of tabs).
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]