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View Full Version : Using a text web browser



st33med
August 21st, 2007, 04:29 PM
I am currently using a text web browser, elinks. It's more colorful than w3m, and a bit more suitable. The only thing I hate is some of the text on this webpage is light gray...

Other than that, it acts like a clickable browser. I can't see images, but, that's what happens when you use a text interface.

What are your favorite text browsers?

LaRoza
August 21st, 2007, 04:32 PM
What are your favorite text browsers?

You can use Opera in Text-mode.

I like using Lynx for text-only browsing.

Gadren
August 21st, 2007, 04:34 PM
Occasionally, I use links2, but I usually use it in -g form at the command line, so I can use the framebuffer to get images. Sure, it's kind of cheating, but whatcha gonna do?

st33med
August 21st, 2007, 04:35 PM
You can use Opera in Text-mode.

I like using Lynx for text-only browsing.

How do you make Opera use text mode?

LaRoza
August 21st, 2007, 04:37 PM
Right Click tool bar -> Customize -> Check "View Bar"

You get a new tool bar, and the option in under "Author Mode"

phonicboom
April 4th, 2008, 08:42 AM
firefox.

Edit > Preferences > Load Images Automatically > Uncheck the box.

- ok, obvious, but it took me a while walking in the other direction before i went - duh! - i had been looking for text only browsers then thought, erm, why not just turn off the images :)

chucky chuckaluck
April 4th, 2008, 09:37 AM
i've been using elinks for a while now and i probably will stay with it. forums are nearly unreadable using elinks in the console, but using it with a tiling manager (wmii, in my case) makes it very usable. like using a tiling wm, text browsers take a while to get used to, but once you do, it's hard to back to using a gui browser.

LaRoza
April 4th, 2008, 09:44 AM
i've been using elinks for a while now and i probably will stay with it. forums are nearly unreadable using elinks in the console, but using it with a tiling manager (wmii, in my case) makes it very usable. like using a tiling wm, text browsers take a while to get used to, but once you do, it's hard to back to using a gui browser.

I started using irssi (for IRC) and I can't go back to GUI clients.

Having such an efficient method of using applications is more than worth the slight learning curve.

mr.propre
April 4th, 2008, 10:06 AM
Please explain whats so fun about using a text browser?

LaRoza
April 4th, 2008, 10:12 AM
Please explain whats so fun about using a text browser?

What is so fun about a GUI browser?

It is just a different interface, that can be very efficient.

chucky chuckaluck
April 4th, 2008, 10:16 AM
Please explain whats so fun about using a text browser?

i guess i'd describe it as more of a relief than fun (the fun coming from the content of the pages one visits). no jumping around rendering (opera), no waiting until the little squirrel in the box gets back from lunch (firefox). pages just load, in one motion. no extra flashing, state fair style fluff.(oops! gotta go get my hair shirt out of the dryer.)

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 10:22 AM
Please explain whats so fun about using a text browser?

Lower use of resources. Faster to render a page. Can be used more easily in scripts and pipes.

In the end it's what you what to do. They have disadvantages but a world without text browsers would be a poorer world.

karth
April 4th, 2008, 10:24 AM
It kinda defeats the purpose of having an avatar and lurking around screenshots topics...

But well, trends are everywhere :)

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 10:27 AM
It kinda defeats the purpose of having an avatar and lurking around screenshots topics...

But well, trends are everywhere :)

I never see your avatar. Does it matter?

karth
April 4th, 2008, 10:31 AM
I wasn't specifically saying this for you, but people (like chucky chuckaluck) do have one, and post in screenshot topics (such as your april desktop).

I'm just wondering... :)

chucky chuckaluck
April 4th, 2008, 10:34 AM
I wasn't specifically saying this for you, but people (like chucky chuckaluck) do have one, and post in screenshot topics (such as your april desktop).

I'm just wondering... :)

i can still open images in elinks, using feh. it's a little bit like an advent calendar, in that regard.

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 10:36 AM
Sorry but WHY use a text based browser?

It's always struck me as crazy :confused:

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 10:37 AM
Lower use of resources. Faster to render a page. Can be used more easily in scripts and pipes.

In the end it's what you what to do. They have disadvantages but a world without text browsers would be a poorer world.

LOL

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 10:41 AM
Sorry but WHY use a text based browser?

It's always struck me as crazy :confused:

Try telling that to a blind person.

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 10:49 AM
Try telling that to a blind person.

Valid point ;)

qazwsx
April 4th, 2008, 10:51 AM
Sorry but WHY use a text based browser?

It's always struck me as crazy :confused:
WHY use X? :)

Seriously if your xorg configuration is broken for some reason then I would use text based browser for troubleshooting obviously.


links2 -g is pretty good browser to use because it uses framebuffer. It is fast and it shows images images as well.

Well still i use mainly Konqueror :)

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 10:57 AM
WHY use X? :)

Seriously if your xorg configuration is broken for some reason then I would use text based browser for troubleshooting obviously.


links2 -g is pretty good browser to use because it uses framebuffer. It is fast and it shows images images as well.

Well still i use mainly Konqueror :)

You guys are turning me

:lolflag:

mr.propre
April 4th, 2008, 11:01 AM
Try telling that to a blind person.

True, Thats the one reason I guess. The only reason I try it, just to test if the page is blind user friendly.

But for the rest? I have a 10Mbit connection and use Opera with excellent cache support. Waiting for pages to open up, isn't something I need to do. :KS

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 11:52 AM
You guys are turning me

:lolflag:

Please control yourself. Remember - you are part of the public face of Ubuntu.

Pancetilla
April 4th, 2008, 11:52 AM
But pr0n? Won't somebody please think about the pr0n? -- Helen Lovejoy

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 12:28 PM
Please control yourself. Remember - you are part of the public face of Ubuntu.


Chill Brian ;)

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 12:39 PM
Chill Brian ;)

I never use smilies but surely you don't think . . . ? I'm mortified!

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 01:07 PM
I never use smilies but surely you don't think . . . ? I'm mortified!

LOL

By "turning" i meant that now i see that text based browsers actually have a use!

Koori23
April 4th, 2008, 01:18 PM
I read man pages online and read the news so pictures aren't paramount.

brian_p
April 4th, 2008, 01:22 PM
LOL

By "turning" i meant that now i see that text based browsers actually have a use!

I'll break the habit of a lifetime. Just this once.:shock:

How does that look? I can't see it, of course.

proalan
April 4th, 2008, 01:31 PM
Visit facebook using lynx and notice the smug comment the site throws at you.

Guess he thinks making a fortune stealing someone elses ideas entitles him to be rude to people.

Tomatz
April 4th, 2008, 02:03 PM
I'll break the habit of a lifetime. Just this once.:shock:

How does that look? I can't see it, of course.

LOL

I guess i'm just not nerdy enough to use a text based browser all the time :(

karth
April 4th, 2008, 02:17 PM
It's a wonder they've actually been able to pass the visual confirmation on ubuntuforums.com ^^

chucky chuckaluck
April 5th, 2008, 06:13 AM
LOL

I guess i'm just not nerdy enough to use a text based browser all the time :(

there are certainly a bunch of things you can't use a text browser for (youtube, for sure), but there's no need to restrict oneself to one or the other. (thank god i'm not a koala bear, cute as they might be.)

Tomatz
April 5th, 2008, 08:31 AM
Visit facebook using lynx and notice the smug comment the site throws at you.

Guess he thinks making a fortune stealing someone elses ideas entitles him to be rude to people.

Yeah i saw that.

"sorry we are not cool enough to support your browser"

???

Muppets!

chucky chuckaluck
April 21st, 2008, 08:36 AM
I am currently using a text web browser, elinks. It's more colorful than w3m, and a bit more suitable. The only thing I hate is some of the text on this webpage is light gray...


that used to bug me when using elinks in the console, but recently, i started using screen and found that elinks appears as white on black on all sites instead of the surprise colors it usually comes up with in the console.

finferflu
April 21st, 2008, 08:58 AM
fuscia,
you *can* use Youtube with Elinks. I have created a little script (http://openroom.shellpenguin.com/index.php/2008/01/01/video-di-youtube-senza-il-flash-plugin/) that uses youtube-dl, and you can incorporate it within Elinks. If you can read Italian (or if you can use Google Translator), I have written a little howto (http://openroom.shellpenguin.com/index.php/2008/01/02/smanettando-con-elinks/) (it's split into 2 parts, one is for copying the current URL to the clipboard, and the other to watch the videos).

As for the colours, you can toggle between the original page colours and the default Elinks colours using the key "%".

Yes, Elinks is an advanced web-browser, able to compete with Firefox, for that matter :D
I use w3m as a wrapper, which is what it is, in the end, and I use within scripts mainly.

billgoldberg
April 21st, 2008, 10:16 AM
But pr0n? Won't somebody please think about the pr0n? -- Helen Lovejoy

Hahaha

The man has a point.

popch
April 21st, 2008, 10:24 AM
But pr0n? Won't somebody please think about the pr0n? -- Helen Lovejoy

Use ascii art?

bigbrovar
April 21st, 2008, 11:54 AM
i use a elinks ..at home .. when am banned from using the web ... so i just enter console and continue browsing the Net .. and i tell them my computer is faulty and am trying to fix it :lolflag:

barbedsaber
April 21st, 2008, 12:02 PM
there are certainly a bunch of things you can't use a text browser for (youtube, for sure), but there's no need to restrict oneself to one or the other. (thank god i'm not a koala bear, cute as they might be.)

not a bear dammit!!

billgoldberg
April 21st, 2008, 12:59 PM
After reading the first post in this thread I tried out elinks.

It's not my cup of tea.

It opens in the terminal, you need to scroll a lot becauce of the way it displays the navigation links from the websites.

It's fast, that's true, but if you have broadband (who hasn't?) you won't notice anything speed wise.

You can't use your mouse, so you need to use the arrow keys and the enter buttons to click on links.

If you have a slow connection or have download limits, tell firefox to not load images, that way you can still use your mouse.

drascus
April 21st, 2008, 02:17 PM
yeah when I want to find information quickly I tend to use a text based browser that way I don't get ton's of flashing adds and annoying side animations that have nothing to do with what I am looking up and just tend to distract me ,

init1
April 21st, 2008, 02:46 PM
I like to use Retawq. It's not in the repos, but the binary can be found in SliTaz or TTY if you don't want to compile. The binary in TTY Linux is kinda odd though because the backspace key acts like delete. It's very annoying. Lynx is also fun , especially since it works in Minix :D

chucky chuckaluck
April 21st, 2008, 02:58 PM
After reading the first post in this thread I tried out elinks.

It's not my cup of tea.

It opens in the terminal, you need to scroll a lot becauce of the way it displays the navigation links from the websites.

It's fast, that's true, but if you have broadband (who hasn't?) you won't notice anything speed wise.

You can't use your mouse, so you need to use the arrow keys and the enter buttons to click on links.

If you have a slow connection or have download limits, tell firefox to not load images, that way you can still use your mouse.

you can use your mouse in elinks.



it's not a bear dammit!

it's chucky, not dammit.

zmjjmz
April 21st, 2008, 03:27 PM
I use links2 or links2 -g in tty1 or 2 on this old eMachine due to the slowness of Kazehakase.