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Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

kristall.random-projects.net

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Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#41

Post by ho_schi »

Like Links[1] then?

Really. I want Epiphany and Firefox to allow me turn off JavaScript like I can allow/disallow {Audio, Video, Webcam, Location, Notifications...}.

The single wrong decision was following Google into that JS-Show. JS has it rationals, I'm using it as programmer sometimes. But JS was consider harmful for the reasons! Google intention was using JS for it's so called web-application/single-page-application to lure users into the cloud. And they opened the opportunity for a bloated web with user tracking via JS, bitcoin miners via JS, animating all kind of elements with JS and so on. Result? Fan spins up, laptop battery discharged.

[1] http://links.twibright.com/

PS: I bet Steve Jobs would have banned entire Electron from MacOS. For same reasons Flash was banned.

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#42

Post by rollcat »

kevinyew wrote: post #34
rollcat wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distraction-free access to information. Like reading a book.

There is nothing about HTML/CSS/JS that prevents simplicity. It is purely how it has been used and abused. You can also disable JS and use user agent stylesheets in any modern web browser.

You can read a book on your tablet / laptop, or even watch a movie adaptation; or you can read a book on dead trees. Some people would like to recreate certain aspects of the "dead tree" experience without actually killing trees.

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#43

Post by O1111OOO »

__void wrote: post #7

kristall is along with geminaut and lagrange, the perfect triptych for wandering the small web! until recently they were the only ones to pass (almost) torture tests [1]! highly recommended [1] gemini://gemini.conman.org/test/torture/

Completely agree - they are the top three GUI browsers running in GeminiSpace. Since I am seeing lots of confused comments - both Kristall and Lagrange are x-platform and portable. Very easy to take out for a spin:-)

There's also JGemini (https://github.com/kevinboone/jgemini), a cute little 107kb jar file that's also a full GUI browser. Yes! 107kb:-) Also x-platform and portable (java -jar ./jgemini-1.0.jar). Not many features (no tabs, just multiple windows) but it's a good example of how quickly browsing solutions can be built when markup is reduced.

That is... you don't need billions of dollars and a decade to present a viable solution in this space.

GeminiSpace actually reminds me much of the early days of the web. People will complain about the limited markup. For some users, the additional security/privacy of the protocol and the reduced 'noise' makes this appealing.

-----------------------------

Gemini (protocol), Gemtext format:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol)

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#44

Post by jeroenhd »

bambax wrote: post #40

Hacker News on Kristall: https://imgur.com/a/lhq8iCw http, https are disabled by default, they need to be enabled in File/Settings/Generic. I was hoping it would be a single executable but (on Windows) it's 56 files: 1 exe, 33 dedicated dlls, 22 translation files. Google Search does not work, it's impossible to get past the cookie consent page: https://imgur.com/a/daGMASS (Same thing happens if one tries to put the s…

I think (extremely) rudementary CSS support would fix many of these cases. You don't need to support more than the basic layout constraints, but you need something so sites like DDG's search page without Javascript can work.

I believe Google will still work on very old browsers through something like user agent sniffing, maybe setting the UA to IE5 will trick it into rendering HTML that might actually work (though the search results will probably still be useless)

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#45

Post by danShumway »

I have nitpicks and criticisms about Gemini, and it's not a protocol that I use very often (if at all), but I also don't see the harm in it. It seems to have a pretty strong grasp of what its goals are and (minor criticisms aside) it does a decent job of accomplishing those goals. Nowadays I tend to compare Gemini more to things like Pico-8 or Markdown rather than think of it as a web competitor -- and as a result I've started to develop a lot more respect for the project. It's not designed to replace the web or revolutionize how people share content, it's designed to be a useful medium for the community that uses it.

All that to say, I'm not sure I understand the criticism I'm seeing here. A Lynx-like browser with proper graphical mouse support and a couple of extras built in is a fine project. And support for Gemini/Markdown gives the browser a clear use-case beyond HTML that means it'll be practically useful for some people; it's not just an experiment in failing to render most websites because it doesn't support CSS, there's a category of content that you know will work, and a community of people making that content.

That's assuming it works well, but if it does -- I don't know, seems like a cool project? It's good to have more Gemini clients.

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#46

Post by jeroenhd »

ho_schi wrote: post #41

Like Links[1] then? Really. I want Epiphany and Firefox to allow me turn off JavaScript like I can allow/disallow {Audio, Video, Webcam, Location, Notifications...}. The single wrong decision was following Google into that JS-Show. JS has it rationals, I'm using it as programmer sometimes. But JS was consider harmful for the reasons! Google intention was using JS for it's so called web-application/single-page-applica…

> I want Epiphany and Firefox to allow me turn off JavaScript like I can allow/disallow {Audio, Video, Webcam, Location, Notifications...}.

uBlock Origin can do this, I believe. NoScript is a more involved solution, but it also still works. I don't know about Epiphany, though.

Re: Kristall – a browser without support for CSS/JS/WASM or graphical websites

#49

Post by danuker »

bambax wrote: post #40

Hacker News on Kristall: https://imgur.com/a/lhq8iCw http, https are disabled by default, they need to be enabled in File/Settings/Generic. I was hoping it would be a single executable but (on Windows) it's 56 files: 1 exe, 33 dedicated dlls, 22 translation files. Google Search does not work, it's impossible to get past the cookie consent page: https://imgur.com/a/daGMASS (Same thing happens if one tries to put the s…

Does https://search.marginalia.nu/ work?
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