Using Elpher to browse the Gopher sphere
              ========================================

                                Lynx
                                ----

As long as I can remember, I used lynx to browse the Gopher sphere.

Lynx is fast, and has a great user interface.

In the old days, Lynx was installed by default by most Linux
distributions, like Slackware, and RedHat. Later, this changed
and Lynx had to be manually installed.

                               Elpher
                               ------

With the advent of Gemini, I started looking for a Gemini browser
and settled with Elpher. Elpher describes it self as a "Elpher
Gopher and Gemini Client".

See: gopher://thelambdalab.xyz/1/projects/elpher/

In the beginning I only used Elpher to browse the Gemini sphere, and
kept using Lynx for Gopher. In a email conversation, Szczezuja (see:
gopher://sdf.org/1/users/szczezuja) inspired my to try Elpher also
for Gopher.

                        Advantages of Elpher
                        --------------------

Of course it is nice to have the same client for Gopher as well as
for Gemini. The integration with Emacs helps to run everything in
the same environment.

What really sets Elpher apart, is that it turns an URL into an
active link. For example, when there is somewhere on the gopher page
you are visiting, a link to gopher://sdf.org. then in Elpher it
automagically becomes a link, which you can easily follow just by
hitting Enter on it.

And because it runs in Emacs, URL's pointing to an http server will
open in eww, so everything looks and feels the same, and you don't
have to leave Emacs at all.

                            Keybindings
                            -----------

The default keybindings of Elpher are a bit gewöhnungsbedürftig
(great German word, meaning "it takes time to get used to"):

- TAB/Shift-TAB: next/prev item on current page

- RET/mouse-1: open item under cursor

- m: select an item on current page by name (autocompletes)

- u/mouse-3/U: return to previous page or to the start page

- g: go to a particular address (gopher, gemini, finger)

- o/O: open a different address selector or the root menu of
  the current server

- d/D: download item under cursor or current page

- i/I: info on item under cursor or current page

- c/C: copy URL representation of item under cursor or current
  page

- a/A: bookmark the item under cursor or current page

- B: list all bookmarks

- s/S: show current history stack or all previously visted
  pages

- r: redraw current page (using cached contents if available)

- R: reload current page (regenerates cache)

- !: set character coding system for gopher (default is to
  autodetect)

- T: toggle TLS gopher mode

- F: forget/discard current TLS client certificate

- .: display the raw server response for the current page

For more info on Elhper, see:

    gopher://thelambdalab.xyz/1/projects/elpher/



Last edited: $Date: 2023/02/18 16:16:30 $

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