K3CAN

What is it?

The Lynx Browser (not to be confused with the later Links Browser), is the oldest actively maintained web browser, initially developed in 1992 and still being maintained today. What makes lynx look a bit different from other modern browsers is the fact that even in 2025, it can only display basic text. The lynx browser ignores all of the ads, pictures, JavaScript, fancy formatting, and annoying infinitely-scrolling slop, to just delivery the content you want to read. Not only does this reduce distractions, but it's also great to use if your internet connection has limited bandwidth.

Using lynx

Lynx is included in the repos of most Linux distributions, so installing it is just a matter of running install lynx via your favorite package manager. Lynx runs in the terminal emulator, and can be started by the command lynx or you can directly open a specific website with lynx {website you want}.

Here's an example of Google.com:

And here's Wikipedia:

The formatting has obviously changed quite a bit, but all of the content is still there. This makes lynx great for sites where you just want to be able to read the content quickly, without distractions. Lynx also supports the gopher protocol, and since gopher is a text-based service to begin with, browsing the gopherspace from lynx feels completely natural.

Super Dimensional Fortress's User's Gophersites:

Pitfalls

There are, however, a few downsides to accessing the modern W3 through a text-only browser. The things that many of us would like to avoid (ads, JavaScript, endlessly scrolling slop, etc) have been so deeply entrenched in some sites that the they simply can't function without it. You might think that this could be a great way to revisit pages that you used to enjoy, like Facebook, but here's how the modern Facebook (even m.facebook) looks on Lynx:

In fact, even some some simple websites might not display well in lynx built if they're built with certain older formatting tools, like frames. Here's my own website as an example. It's worth noting, though, that while my site doesn't look correct without displaying frames, it can still be fully navigated by using the FRAME: links at the top:

Thoughts

So, while lynx is unlikely to fully replace your graphical browser on the modern web, it's still surprisingly useful for focused reading, navigating gopherspace, and for situations with limited bandwidth. Installing lynx is simple and the entire browser is only 6 MiB in size, so it's a great tool to have on your system.