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How usable is Lynx for modern Internet? I would love a browser I can operate within tmux, but how does it stack against the modern javascript-laden ecosystem?

delamon 2y ago
The Wiki has the answer: Unlike most web browsers, Lynx does not support JavaScript, which many websites require to work correctly.
- rich_sasha 2y ago
  Well, yes. But what's the browsing experience like then? I appreciate I can just install it and try, but tips for any long time users would be more insightful I think.
eadmund 2y ago
Well-written websites look great it it; poorly-written ones look terrible or are blank pages. That’s the same as with any other text-mode browser. A lot of sites require Javascript to function, even when their actual functionality does not (pro tip: if you use Javascript to display text, show images or create links, you are doing it wrong). That’s a real shame. As a general rule, the best sites work great, and the worst ones don’t work at all. This is not entirely a bad thing! It cna make web browsing less distracting. I often use a text-mode browser as a primary, and fall back to Firefox when using some Javascript-laden monstrosity.
bdeshi 2y ago
elinks is another textmode web browser that supports some javascript. https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/ https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/
mrweasel 2y ago
The problem, for the sites I'm interested in, typically isn't the lack of JavaScript, but how the sites layout. Take Wikipedia, the content is perfectly fine in Lynx and Links, but the menus are defined at the top of the page, meaning that you'll need to scroll multiple pages to get to the actual article. If you have website, which have actual content (text), it's pretty easy to ensure that it looks good and works in Lynx, with minimal effort.
- wantless 2y ago
  Site layout can definately be an annoyance browsing in text. More accessible sites will offer a Jump to Content link near the top, which is the case with Wikipedia. In Lynx, hitting the ">" to move down a row of links then right arrow (or corresponding vim motion if configured) brings you adjacent to the article TOC and significantly closer to the article text.
- basscomm 2y ago
  > Take Wikipedia, the content is perfectly fine in Lynx and Links, but the menus are defined at the top of the page, meaning that you'll need to scroll multiple pages to get to the actual article. Wikipedia has a link at the top of the page that is labeled 'jump to content' that skips over all of the menu gunk at the top. Several other sites also do this
anenefan 2y ago
Lynx is still valuable even if one doesn't use it to browse the web. It's been a while but when large sites would every so often alter their link landscape, via pruning or renaming, Lynx was a useful tool when looking for similar pages that may not be displayed by search engines with the given query parameters, (non matching name,) and more often it was Lynx I'd use as it was quick to dump most of the links to search though later on if I needed to rather than deploy wget's spider mode lynx -dump -listonly -nonumbers http://foobar.com/ http://foobar.com/ >foobar.txt
wantless 2y ago
This response was written from Lynx within a tmux session: Hacker News remains a notable bastion of simplicity, usability, and accessibility. Lynx is my primary browswer, but precisely because I desire a degree of separation from the "modern" internet. This requires curation. Many sites simply do not work. But this practice gives me space to reconsider what I actually want from the web and what the web wants from me.

delamon 2y ago

The Wiki has the answer: Unlike most web browsers, Lynx does not support JavaScript, which many websites require to work correctly.

rich_sasha 2y ago
Well, yes. But what's the browsing experience like then? I appreciate I can just install it and try, but tips for any long time users would be more insightful I think.

eadmund 2y ago

Well-written websites look great it it; poorly-written ones look terrible or are blank pages. That’s the same as with any other text-mode browser. A lot of sites require Javascript to function, even when their actual functionality does not (pro tip: if you use Javascript to display text, show images or create links, you are doing it wrong). That’s a real shame. As a general rule, the best sites work great, and the worst ones don’t work at all. This is not entirely a bad thing! It cna make web browsing less distracting. I often use a text-mode browser as a primary, and fall back to Firefox when using some Javascript-laden monstrosity.

bdeshi 2y ago

elinks is another textmode web browser that supports some javascript. https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/ https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/

mrweasel 2y ago

The problem, for the sites I'm interested in, typically isn't the lack of JavaScript, but how the sites layout. Take Wikipedia, the content is perfectly fine in Lynx and Links, but the menus are defined at the top of the page, meaning that you'll need to scroll multiple pages to get to the actual article. If you have website, which have actual content (text), it's pretty easy to ensure that it looks good and works in Lynx, with minimal effort.

wantless 2y ago
Site layout can definately be an annoyance browsing in text. More accessible sites will offer a Jump to Content link near the top, which is the case with Wikipedia. In Lynx, hitting the ">" to move down a row of links then right arrow (or corresponding vim motion if configured) brings you adjacent to the article TOC and significantly closer to the article text.
basscomm 2y ago
> Take Wikipedia, the content is perfectly fine in Lynx and Links, but the menus are defined at the top of the page, meaning that you'll need to scroll multiple pages to get to the actual article. Wikipedia has a link at the top of the page that is labeled 'jump to content' that skips over all of the menu gunk at the top. Several other sites also do this

anenefan 2y ago

Lynx is still valuable even if one doesn't use it to browse the web. It's been a while but when large sites would every so often alter their link landscape, via pruning or renaming, Lynx was a useful tool when looking for similar pages that may not be displayed by search engines with the given query parameters, (non matching name,) and more often it was Lynx I'd use as it was quick to dump most of the links to search though later on if I needed to rather than deploy wget's spider mode lynx -dump -listonly -nonumbers http://foobar.com/ http://foobar.com/ >foobar.txt

wantless 2y ago

This response was written from Lynx within a tmux session: Hacker News remains a notable bastion of simplicity, usability, and accessibility. Lynx is my primary browswer, but precisely because I desire a degree of separation from the "modern" internet. This requires curation. Many sites simply do not work. But this practice gives me space to reconsider what I actually want from the web and what the web wants from me.