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

[mattia.scattolin at icloud.com]

Firelynx seems to be a good idea as a starting point.
I’d like to help developing this solution.

Thanks !

Mattia 


> Il giorno 16 set 2025, alle ore 17:57, Nicolas Pitre <nico at fluxnic.net> ha scritto:
> 
> 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._______________________________________________
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