[BRLTTY] Is there a feature-compatible text-based browser

[Tom Masterson]

I would be interested in helping when and where I can.  If you have or 
would post it to a git account those that want to help can get to it and 
as long as everything says it is alpha people should understand it is not 
ready for more than experimental use yet.

Tom


On Tue, 16 Sep 2025, Nicolas Pitre wrote:

> On Tue, 16 Sep 2025, kperry at blinksoft.com wrote:
>
>> Instead of trying to maintain a stand-alone text browser like Lynx, wouldn't
>> it be easier to build a command-line browser that uses a modern engine like
>> Chrome or Firefox as the backend? You'd only need some X libraries
>> installed, but not an actual running desktop. Interaction could be handled
>> through text, while the backend stays updated automatically as Chrome or
>> Firefox updates.
>
> Well well...
>
> I wanted to have something more functional and stable before I post it
> here ... but here's the README as a teaser for the project I'm working
> on when time permits. There are still many issues and bugs, but I was
> able to log into my Facebook account, even with MFA active, for the
> first time using a text-based interface. I didn't publish the code yet
> but I'm willing to share with people with development skills eager to
> contribute (this is not ready for casual user yet).
>
> =====
>
> # Firelynx: Where Firefox Meets lynx
>
> ⚠️ **EXPERIMENTAL ALPHA SOFTWARE** - Firelynx is in early development.
> While functional for many websites, expect bugs, limitations, and breaking
> changes. Use at your own risk and keep backups of important work.
>
> The web has moved on, but accessible browsing hasn't kept up.
> Firelynx changes that by creating a bridge between the excellent
> accessibility of lynx and the modern web compatibility of Firefox.
>
> ## The Problem: When the Web Left Accessibility Behind
>
> If you're a blind user, you know the frustration. Traditional text browsers
> like lynx work beautifully with braille displays and screen readers - they're
> fast, efficient, and give you exactly the semantic information you need.
> But try to use Google Search, Facebook, or most modern websites, and you're
> out of luck. These sites require JavaScript to function, leaving lynx users
> stuck with broken layouts, completely blank pages, or worse - some sites
> simply refuse to serve you if your browser isn't one of the big ones.
>
> On the other hand, Firefox is a powerhouse that handles any modern website
> perfectly. But running Firefox in a GUI environment when you're using a
> braille display is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. You're forced
> to navigate through complex visual interfaces, deal with mouse-centric
> designs, and lose the clean, efficient text-based interaction that makes
> computing accessible in the first place.
>
> ### What About term.everything?
>
> You might have heard of [term.everything](https://github.com/mmulet/term.everything) -
> a project that promises to render GUI applications in the terminal as ASCII
> art. Sounds perfect, right? Unfortunately, it doesn't solve our problem at
> all.
>
> When term.everything displays Firefox, you get something like this:
> ```
> 🬽 ▀▀▀▀▀▀🬼   ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
> ˛🬠▂▂▂   ▌ ┃    🬼                                            ▎
> ```
>
> This is just visual noise to a braille display. There's no semantic
> structure, no way to understand what's a heading versus a link versus body
> text. It's graphics made of text characters - completely inaccessible to
> the tools that blind users rely on.
>
> ## The Solution: Firelynx
>
> The breakthrough came from realizing we didn't need to choose between lynx
> and Firefox. What if we could use Firefox as a backend engine to process
> modern websites, then serve the results through lynx's familiar,
> accessible interface?
>
> That's exactly what Firelynx does. It creates an HTTP proxy server that
> sits between lynx and the web. When you browse with lynx, the proxy
> intercepts your requests, processes them through a headless Firefox
> instance (complete with JavaScript execution), extracts the meaningful
> content, and serves it back to lynx as clean, semantic HTML.
>
> The result? You get to keep lynx's excellent accessibility - all your
> customizations, keyboard shortcuts, and the clean interface that works
> perfectly with your braille display in a text-based terminal with
> [BRLTTY](http://brltty.app/) - while gaining access to any modern website
> that Firefox can handle.
>
> ## Features That Make It Work
>
> **Modern Web Compatibility**: Google Search, Facebook, complex JavaScript
> sites - they all work because Firefox handles the heavy lifting.
>
> **Seamless lynx Experience**: Every lynx feature works exactly as before.
> Your muscle memory, customizations, and workflow remain unchanged.
>
> **Smart Content Extraction**: The system intelligently finds and
> prioritizes main content while filtering out navigation clutter and ads.
>
> **Runtime Content Filtering**: Choose your preferred balance between showing
> everything (bridge mode) and clean reading (filtered mode) with instant
> switching between filter levels.
>
> ## Installation
>
> ### Fedora Linux
> ```bash
> # Install the packages
> sudo dnf install python3-selenium selenium-manager firefox lynx
>
> # Get and install Firelynx
> git clone [your-repo-url] firelynx
> cd firelynx/
> ./install.sh
>
> # Now you can use 'firelynx' from anywhere
> firelynx https://example.com
> ```
>
> ### Debian/Ubuntu
> ```bash
> # Install the packages
> sudo apt update
> sudo apt install python3-selenium firefox lynx
>
> # Note: No additional geckodriver installation needed!
> # Modern Selenium (4.x+) automatically downloads geckodriver on first use
>
> # Get and install Firelynx
> git clone [your-repo-url] firelynx
> cd firelynx/
> ./install.sh
>
> # Now you can use 'firelynx' from anywhere
> firelynx https://example.com
> ```
>
> ## How to Use
>
> **Start browsing any website:**
> ```bash
> firelynx https://facebook.com
> firelynx google.com
> firelynx
> ```
>
> This launches lynx connected to the Firefox proxy. Navigate exactly as you
> normally would in lynx - press 'g' to go to URLs, follow links normally,
> fill out forms as usual. You now have a much greater chance for
> JavaScript-heavy sites to work to some extent.
>
> **For quick text output without interactive lynx:**
> ```bash
> firelynx --dump --search "python tutorial"
> firelynx --dump https://example.com
> firelynx --dump --search "weather forecast" --engine bing
> ```
>
> ## Current Limitations
>
> **JavaScript Modal Dialogs**: Some modal dialogs (like Facebook's device
> trust prompts) don't convert properly yet. The detection system is there
> but needs refinement.
>
> **Google Search CAPTCHAs**: Google still detects the automation and shows
> robot verification. Use DuckDuckGo instead - it works perfectly and doesn't
> have this issue.
>
> **MFA Timing**: On sites like Facebook, if you press the "continue" button
> too quickly during multi-factor authentication, you might not get the
> expected retry prompts.
>
> **Some False Positives**: Occasionally sites like Amazon trigger MFA
> warnings when no authentication is actually required.
>
> Despite these quirks, the browser handles many websites well, including
> complex authentication flows, form submissions, and JavaScript-heavy content
> that traditional text browsers simply can't access.