Wednesday 20 November 2024


Eww and Elpher, the great equalizer
===================================

Text mode gives the same look and feel to Gemini texts, Gopher
files and web pages.

Eww is a simple web browser in Emacs, that can be configured
as a pure text mode browser. No images, the web page can not
influence the font or its colors, and fixed maximum
line-length of about 70 characters. No support for JavaScript,
of course.

Elpher does the same for Gemini texts and Gopher files.

Bitmap font
-----------
In the terminal I use a bitmap font. On my small Acer Aspire
urxvt uses the standard 8x13 bitmap font, and on the slightly
larger ThinkPad X201 urxt uses the standard 7x13 bitmap font.

On a graphical Emacs with a TTF font, eww and Elpher are more
disctinct, but when running Emacs in the terminal, using a
bitmap font, all text is rendered the same.

eww-readable
------------
eww comes with a so-called readable modus, which suppresses
the cruft in web pages, like the headers, footers, menu's and
so on. In readable modus, usually only the main body is shown.

The command to activate eww-readable has the key binding shift-R.

Having been using eww for quite some time, this goes totally
automatic, almost subconsciously. Somewhere my brain registers
it is looking at a web page and let my fingers hit shift-R.

This readable modus reduces the differences between the
display of a web page and the display of a Gemini text of
Gopher file.

Uniform look and feel
---------------------
When I go through the aggregators, like the RSS feeds, Gopher
aggregators like Bongusta, the Moka-puna's, my own phlogroll,
or the Gopherclub page, and so on, and Gemini aggregators like
Cosmos and Antenna, it all looks and feels the same.

It is all white text with colored links on a black background.
Usually the frame is split in two windows side-by-side, with
the visited page in either the left or the right window.

Transparent switching
---------------------
Elpher recognizes and automatically enables URLs. Regardless
of their kind, --web, gemini, or gopher-- links are simply
opened with the use of the enter-key. This is very convenient
when reading Gopher pages, no need to copy and paste URL's.
When the URL is a web link, the link is opened in eww.

Because is all looks the same, sometimes I only become aware
that I have switched from Gemini or Gopher to the web when I'm
further following links.

RSS feeds with Gnus
-------------------
I follow the RSS feeds using Emacs Gnus.

As a result, everything happens within Emacs.

In Emacs I retrieve the feeds, open the feeds one by one in
Emacs, open the feed items in Emacs, and open the link from a
feed item in eww, which is also Emacs.

The whole session, reading RSS feeds, using the jump table to
open the Gopher and Gemini aggregators, reading the web pages,
Gemini text and Gopher files, takes place within a single user
interface.

Readability and speed
---------------------
Almost every time I am cruising Gopher files, Gemini texts, and
web pages, this takes place with a white bitmap font on a
black background, where the text is presented in a column of
about 70 chars width.

No mental load from the need to switch between different
fonts, colors, header sizes, and so on, and within a single
user interface.

Everything is keyboard-controlled: following feeds, opening
pages, opening the jump table with the main bookmarks, and
navigating from page to page and link to link.

No matter if I read a Gopher file, Gemini text, or a web page,
the experience is the same.

Text mode is the great equalizer.


Last edited: $Date: 2024/11/20 21:00:59 $