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Hello Gemini

2024-03-05 ~ 2024-03-06

This is my new Gemini capsule.

There are many like it but this one is mine.

I recently discovered Gemini, which is a sort of re-imagining of the World Wide Web with a deliberate emphasis on simplicity and efficiency.

Gemini is a group of technologies similar to the ones that lie behind your familiar web browser. Using Gemini, you can explore an online collection of written documents which can link to other written documents. The main difference is that Gemini approaches this task with a strong philosophy of "keep it simple" and "less is enough". This allows Gemini to simply sidestep, rather than try and probably fail to solve, many of the problems plaguing the modern web, which just seem to get worse and worse no matter how many browser add-ons or well meaning regulations get thrown at them.

Project Gemini FAQ

Gemini Quickstart

I thought it sounded like a pretty neat idea, and the more I dug into it the more excited I became. Gemini has some really interesting properties:

Security is baked into the Gemini protocol, and TLS encryption is required for all connections.
There's no CSS or other styling; styling is determined entirely by the Gemini client. Users are in control of how their Gemini experience is styled, and that means everything is styled consistently no matter where you go.
There's no client-side scripting, which means no ads, tracking, or bloated pages. The text content is the priority, and pages render immediately.
There are no cookies to follow you around, which also means traditional username+password logins aren't typically used. Instead, logins are usually handled via TLS client certificates, and support for managing those certificate-based identities is often a top-level menu option in Gemini clients.
Content is solely written in the very simple Gemtext format, which is easy to write, easy to parse (for both humans and machines), and easy to render. Unlike HTML, there aren't complicated tags to keep track of. Unlike Markdown, there's no worrying about how whitespace will be handled.

Gemtext Cheatsheet

That simplicity seems like it might be restrictive, but it's ultimately kind of freeing. You can just focus on writing a thing rather than worrying about how it's going to be presented.

So here we are: I've deployed a self-hosted Capsule (Gemini speak for "website") that I intend to use for posting a Gemlog (Gemini for "blog") as well as a basic profile page in Geminispace (Gemini for "the web").

Since Gemini doesn't use HTTP, you'll need a Gemini client (like Lagrange) to view Gemini Capsules. But through the magic of a kineto proxy, this Capsule is _also_ available on the traditional web. If you visit `gemini://capsule.jbowdre.lol`, you'll get the Gemini representation; visit `https://capsule.jbowdre.lol` and you'll see a version translated for your <ahem> legacy browser. Kineto will also proxy any other Gemini Capsules that I link. Pretty slick, right?

Lagrange

Kineto on sourcehut

This will likely replace my "Scribbles 'n Bits" blog, and I've already ported over most of that content. I do _really_ like the Scribbles platform, but I like the idea of cross-posting to both Gemini and the standard web more. I give up the polished look, slick styling, and easy web-based posting, but I feel like self-hosting this Capsule gives me more control and ownership over my content.

Scribbles 'n Bits

Scribbles blogging platform

Along the way, I also found a way to leverage Hugo's custom output formats to build my runtimeterror site for Gemini without needing extra tooling. I'm *not* going to shift that site to favor Gemini beyond that (those technical posts can really benefit from the additional markup which isn't supported on Gemini).

runtimeterror on Gemini

I'll be sharing more details about that (and how I'm hosting this Capsule) soon. But for now, I just wanted to say hi.

Hi!

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