💾 Archived View for box.matto.nl › plain-text-is-best.gmi captured on 2023-09-28 at 15:47:36. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
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In the old days, we didn't know any better than to use plain text:
- email was just text, no html, no images
- gopher was just text, sometimes you downloaded an image file
- Usenet was just text, no html, no images
- IRC was just plain text
It took several years before email got poisoned with html, markup and images.
Also it took some time before people started posting images, and other media on Usenet, and we got "binary" newsgroups.
I have always liked text mode browsers, like lynx, w3m, elinks, and in the last few years, eww (the html browser that is part of Emacs). I have configured eww as a text mode browser, so just the standard Emacs font, standard Emacs colors and no images.
I still use IRC, and use mcabber, a text mode Jabber-client.
I follow Usenet news groups, mailing lists and RSS feeds in Emacs Gnus, also just text. When I open a web page from Gnus, it opens in eww.
When I read an Eppub book on programming, I read it in nov.el-mode in Emacs, with an org-file for notes.
I still use gopher, with lynx as my gopherspace browser, and user Elpher, an Gemini browser for Emacs.
When I write, it is in text. I use a mixture of Markdown, Markdown-ish, and the last few years, org-mode.
The publisher, for who I do some freelance writing, requires ODT-files, or docx. I write those in org-mode and use the excellent org-mode exporter to export the end result to ODT.
About two years ago I committed my self to learning to use Emacs, and have used it on a daily basis since than.
In Emacs:
- I follow Usenet newsgroups
- I follow mailing lists
- I follow RSS feeds and open web pages
- I read and write email
- I read web pages
- I read Epub programming books
- I read Gemini postings
- I write practically every thing I write
The great thing about this is, that everything looks and feels the same, has a consistent user interface and because of this it feels like a kind of integrated work environment.
Things that I could do in Emacs but don't:
- I use lynx for gopher, because it has a very good user interface (better than Elpher)
- I use irssi for IRC, because it can run 24x7 in tmux
- I use ed for editing config files or short notes
- Other books, fiction and non-fiction, I mostly read on a Kindle e-reader.
Sometimes it feels like the world has forgotten the value of plain old How To's.
When searching the internet for how to configure something, or how to do somethings, it seems like the only information is hidden somewhere in a pile of Youtube videos. I hate this. A proper written HowTo gives you in a blink of an eye an idea of how useful the specific document is for the issue at hand, and it is easy to go to the part you are interested in. Video's don't have these options, take a ton of time to watch and you never know if the information you need is available in it, and if it useful for you.
Sometimes there is no other option than to read some text in PDF format. I am not a great fan of this, I prefer real text.
Funny enough, for visiting the Fediverse (Pleroma, Mastodon and the like, and Diaspora) I sometimes use toot, a text mode Mastodon client, but most of the time I use a client on mobile device. I haven't used a Emacs Mastodon client (yet :).
The advantage of using a client on a mobile device, is that you can use it anywhere, like while sitting in your lazy chair, or in bed.
Hashtag: #emacs #plaintext
$Date: 2023/01/29 14:02:47 $
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