Re: Adding the "links" text mode web browser to the base system

[Matthew Mondor <mm_lists%pulsar-zone.net@localhost>]

On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:08:38 +0100
Marc Balmer <marc%msys.ch@localhost> wrote:

> > I think a much better fix would be to eliminate the HTML files.  Their
> > content is available in much more readable forms elsewhere; an HTML
> > reader is not needed to read manpages, just to read those particular
> > manglings of them.
> 
> I second that.  HTML manual pages have no benefit.

Indeed, since we already have man pages in man/mdoc and a reader to
read them.  For that reason (and because users of a text mode browser
has several alternatives to chose from), I think browsers are best kept
into pkgsrc.

> <cynic>
> If we add a browser to base, then we should add mozzila firefox, not  
> some half-assed text based piece of crap like links...
> 
> Internet in textmode? Come one get real, the times of ASCII porn are  
> gone..
> </cynic>

You probably mean s/internet/web/ in text mode
http://www.dgate.org/~brg/bvtelnet80/ :))

But humor aside, HTTP uses the RFC822 format which are text messages
(even RFC2822 messages are, so you can even use a telnet client :), and
the most useful parts of documents being their text in general (and
HTML can easily be rendered as text, it's a text format itself), I
don't see any problem with a text browser.  For people using a braille
screen reader, they're very useful.  Moreover, console-mode emacs can
embed a text mode browser for non roff/info/text online documentation.

That many sites ignore accessibility is another matter, but where
information has significant importance, a text browser usually
works...  And obviously fetureful popular web browsers don't run on all
systems you could run NetBSD on (oh, my toaster has no screen though :)
-- 
Matt