• DdCno1@kbin.social
    1·
    7 months ago

    There’s a new application-layer Internet protocol like (but also very much unlike) http by the name of Gemini. It was first launched in 2019 and until yesterday, flew completely under my radar. It’s primarily meant to be used for uncluttered text-only pages (although any type of file can be distributed), which are created using a deliberately simple and limited markdown language. Unsurprisingly, this results in a plethora of small niche blogs being published through it.

    The basic user experience is essentially the same as browsing the web, until you notice just how much it isn’t. You enter URLs (except that they start with gemini://) you read texts and you click on hyperlinks - except that every page looks exactly the same due to the markdown language. There are no pop-ups, no ads, nothing autoplays, nothing wants your consent to exploit your user data. Even images only load when the user clicks on them. It shows just how little is actually needed, how many aspects of the modern web are completely unnecessary and mere pointless distractions.

    Gemini pages - and this is a small hurdle that will keep most people away from it - can not be accessed with a normal web browser and instead require a specialized client for viewing (although paradoxically, creating pages often requires a web browser, at least for now). The idea is that both the underlying tech and the browsers are much more straightforward than anything related to http and html. A Gemini client is not effectively an entire operating system of its own that can execute near arbitrary code. It displays formatted text with basic images and videos - that’s it.

    Here’s a neat, but slightly outdated introduction that also recommends a few clients and where to find pages to read:

    https://geminiquickst.art/

    The entire thing feels very early, tiny, experimental and odd, almost like a parallel reality, as if the World Wide Web didn’t exist and someone came up with something like it only now, using today’s hard- and software. If Lemmy is a response to social media in general and reddit in particular, Gemini feels more like a response to the World Wide Web as a whole or like a time machine back to a highly idealized version of the early days of the information system (the primary difference being the lack of horrendous '90s UX design and malware everywhere), including some unfortunate aspects that I had long forgotten about, like how the common method of finding content next to feeds - manually updated indexes instead of search engines - is plagued by dead links; and these dead links, unlike on the normal Internet, cannot be attempted to be resolved using the Wayback Machine or some other cache, at least not yet.

    Gemini is equally parts exciting and promising, like a new frontier, but also at times confusing and frustrating. Don’t expect your Gemini client of choice to replace your web browser any time soon (or ever), but it’s still worth trying out, if for the novelty alone.

      • krash@lemmy.ml
        1·
        7 months ago

        Gemini is encrypted by default, but they both share a lot of similarities.

    • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      7 months ago

      I was initially interested in the idea of Gemini, but when looking for a client, I happened upon this blog post by the creator of one of the clients about why they were abandoning it.

      After a lot of thinking, I’ve realized there is one main reason I don’t keep coming back to Gemini: it offers no advantage over how I already use the Web.

      In practice, the Web already has all the Gemini content I’m interested in from various people, and then of course everything else. Having everything in one place (whether my web browser or feed reader) makes for a much nicer experience.

      Gemini is a reaction to bloated modern websites, but in fact I don’t actually visit that many gross websites like that. When I do, my ad blocker and paywall bypasser usually make them decent again. Otherwise, I spend the majority of my non-work Internet time on lightweight sites like my feed reader and Hacker News, and some time on sites that Gemini can’t emulate: YouTube, Reddit, Discord. The reality is that Gemini just wouldn’t actually improve this experience for me.

      These are exactly the reservations I had about the concept, so to have someone so invested in it reach this exact conclusion and leave it made me decide to forego it. I think it’s a neat toy, and if it becomes relevant I’ll definitely take another look, but I think it’s a bit of putting the cart before the horse. I don’t want to use a protocol for the sake of using a protocol, I want it to serve a purpose and solve an actual problem I have.

      • currawong@lemmy.ml
        1·
        7 months ago

        I enjoyed browsing Gemini capsules using the Lagrange browser. Its look and feel is awesome and made me want to write smol websites again. I’m appalled by what modern websites have become. I miss making light but cool sites without an ounce of scripts in them.

      • speaker_hat@lemmy.one
        1·
        7 months ago

        They do things because they must, and do them quick so they can continue to do the next thing they must do.

        While they do these things, they don’t seem to enjoy the moment doing it, it’s like a robot doing something because it must.

        Most of them has so many things they must do that they don’t have enough time sleeping, and that cycle just gets worse and worse.

        And it doesn’t stop; they get old, they become unhealthy, but they must continue to keep up, because they pressure themselves to do so, or others do it or manipulate them to feel that.

        They fake or ignore how they really feel, just to adjust to the environment, and actually they don’t really know what they feel, only what they must do.

        That’s surviving in my opinion.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
      1·
      7 months ago

      I find it hard to believe young guys still plan any aspects of their lives around watching sports events.