From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from int-mx1.corp.redhat.com (int-mx1.corp.redhat.com [172.16.52.254]) by listman.back-rdu.redhat.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id hA3JuxH11529 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 2003 14:56:59 -0500 Received: (from mail@localhost) by int-mx1.corp.redhat.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) id hA3K2Mw26259 for blinux-list@listman.back-rdu.redhat.com; Mon, 3 Nov 2003 15:02:22 -0500 Received: from mx1.redhat.com (mx1.redhat.com [172.16.48.31]) by int-mx1.corp.redhat.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id hA3K2M626253 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 2003 15:02:22 -0500 Received: from sccrmhc13.comcast.net (sccrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.202.64]) by mx1.redhat.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id hA3K2LM11589 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 2003 15:02:22 -0500 Message-Id: <200311032002.hA3K2LM11589@mx1.redhat.com> Received: from eklhad (pcp02692649pcs.roylok01.mi.comcast.net[68.84.176.25]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc13) with SMTP id <2003110320021501600slt81e>; Mon, 3 Nov 2003 20:02:15 +0000 To: blinux-list@redhat.com From: Karl Dahlke Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 15:04:04 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: up-to-date text-based browser? X-Loop: blinux-list@redhat.com Sender: blinux-list-admin@redhat.com Errors-To: blinux-list-admin@redhat.com X-BeenThere: blinux-list@redhat.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: junk Reply-To: blinux-list@redhat.com X-Reply-To: Karl Dahlke List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Linux for blind general discussion List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Sadly, you're right. I am the author of edbrowse, another text based browser. http://www.eklhad.net/linux/app/ I use this to shop online, and sometimes it works. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I pull back and read the html source, read the javascript, figure out what it is trying to do, adjust the html accordingly, rebrowse the page, and run it, and then it works. But come on; only a professional programmer could jump through those hoops! I probably have the necessary skills to make edbrowse a fully functional browser. I'd have to port it to C first, then call upon the native Java interpreter, with all sorts of patches for the "usual" document classes etc. Ok, but we're talking a couple years of fulltime work, and I don't see anybody ready to pay me six figures to do that. So - it ain't gonna happen. I hear lynx is making a real effort at supporting javascript, but I don't know much about that, as I dislike lynx simply for its user interface. My approach for now, and for the foreseeable future, is, unfortunately, to use edbrowse for most of what I do, and ask my wife, on her Windows box, to manage the sites that just won't behave for me. Karl P.S. One last thought. The other day I got one of those stupid spam messages, about refinancing or growing my organ or whatever, and it had an opt-out button, which I happily pushed, but it led me to a web based unsubscribe form with so much javascript that even I couldn't figure it out. Some kind of runtime decryption program. So I can't even unsubscribe from this crap, nor can I complain to anybody, because, after all, the email does have an opt-out button. P.P.S. Perhaps the best approach is to get a grant from HHS or Labor, to make one or all of these browsers more universal. I happen to have, bookmarked, for other reasons, the HHS grant site; maybe I'll whip up a business plan and submit it. I mean, it couldn't hurt, eh?? If I had grant money coming in, and could drop my 9 to 5 job, I could do it.