burrowing.txt (2921B) [raw]
1 # burrowing: From text-only to gopher-only 2 3 _Published: November 15, 2021_ 4 5 ## Description 6 7 This past month, I've spent a lot of time learning about gopher. 8 It's truly a fascinating alternative to the world wide web, not 9 just in the content found there but also in terms of the protocol 10 itself. 11 12 As of this writing, I've decided to deprecate text.alexkarle.com 13 in favor of serving that content (and more!) over gopher instead, 14 exclusively. 15 16 ## Implications 17 18 This shouldn't have much impact on this blog. After all, 19 text.alexkarle.com was [an experiment](/blog/text-only.html) to begin 20 with! I'll still keep publishing semi-regularly here, I just 21 don't plan on maintaining a text dump via HTTP. 22 23 I will, however, start publishing gopher-only content. There's two 24 main reasons for this: 25 26 1. I want to see more activity on gopher 27 2. Gopher is easier to publish on 28 29 Admittedly, number 2 is my own doing. I 30 [moved this blog to `mdoc(7)`](/blog/my-old-man.html) willingly to 31 learn the language. I've found that it slows my raw output, 32 which, while fine for longer form pieces, is a pain for 33 shorter-form thoughts. No regrets (I learned a ton!), but 34 shorter-form thoughts do much better in plaintext! 35 36 The first reason is a theme for this blog: be the change you want 37 to see. I would love to see more content on gopher, so I'm taking 38 the plunge. 39 40 ## The Pitch 41 42 So, why gopher? Probably the biggest reason to explore gopher is 43 the content. It's a parallel network totally untouched by 44 commercial interests. You won't see a single ad. 45 46 The second reason to try gopher lies in the protocol itself--gopher 47 has a standardized menu interface, and individual gopherholes 48 cannot change the way you interact with them beyond the standard. 49 In a world where it seems every bit of the web's UI has been 50 rewritten in JavaScript (looking at you, <div>'s that should be 51 <button>'s), it's wildly refreshing to just have a predictable 52 menu. 53 54 So, gopher separates the interaction (menus) from the content (can 55 be anything, but is usually plaintext). I think this is a cool 56 design choice because it emphasizes what the gopher protocol is 57 really about: fetching documents. 58 59 Ultimately, it's hard to describe and much better experienced. 60 For a quick dip, try out a proxy like [https://gopherproxy.net]. 61 For client recommendations, I'd check out 62 [`lynx(1)`](https://lynx.invisible-island.net/), 63 [`sacc(1)`](https://git.fifth.space/sacc), or 64 [`bombadillo(1)`](https://bombadillo.colorfield.space/). 65 Bombadillo has gemini support too, gemini being another 66 alternative internet protocol worth checking out. I'll likely put 67 my stuff up there too, if time allows. 68 69 Not sure where to start in your client? Go to [gopher://alexkarle.com] 70 of course! :) 71 72 ## See Also 73 74 - [RFC 1436 (Gopher)](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1436) 75 - [http://gopherproject.org] 76 - [Gemini official site](https://gemini.circumlunar.space) 77 78 [Back to blog](/blog)