Is This Terminal-Based Browser Suitable for Your Daily Browsing Needs?

Recently, I embarked on an experiment to substitute my conventional applications with terminal-based alternatives. This isn’t due to a lack of engagement with the world; rather, I find exploring these command-line tools to be an enjoyable challenge. During this journey, I encountered a terminal-based calendar that exceeded my expectations, leading me to explore the realm of terminal web browsers. One such browser, w3m, has been my companion for the past two weeks since I transitioned away from Chrome. While my experience has been interesting, I don’t foresee it becoming my long-term solution.

Understanding w3m

w3m is a powerful text-based web browser that operates directly within a terminal environment. The name “w3m”derives from the Japanese phrase “WWW wo miru, ” which translates to “to see the web, ”reflecting its intended use. First developed in 1995, the initial project became inactive, but thanks to developer Tatsuya Kinoshita’s fork, w3m continued to thrive. Recent developments in 2024 saw a new community-driven fork take charge of its ongoing evolution.

What sets w3m apart from its predecessors, like Lynx, is its capability to render many modern HTML elements. It supports features such as tables, frames, and inline images within the terminal, striving to present a webpage structure that mirrors graphical layouts rather than just plain text. Furthermore, w3m is adept at handling forms and cookies, allowing users to log into various websites without relying extensively on heavy scripting. However, it must be noted that w3m does not accommodate JavaScript, which restricts its ability to display certain content effectively.

Despite its inherent limitations, w3m is laden with features fitting for a terminal application. It boasts tabbed browsing, basic mouse functionality in compatible terminals, and the capability to show images if configured correctly. Essentially, w3m offers a minimalistic web browsing experience that emphasizes text and hyperlinks while incorporating some formatting and color elements. This browser can be easily accessed on Linux and other Unix-like systems, and it is also available on Windows (via Cygwin) and macOS (via Homebrew).

How to Install w3m

The installation process for w3m is quite user-friendly. On most Linux distributions, you can simply access the terminal and utilize the package manager to install:

sudo apt install w3m w3m-img

This command will download both the main w3m package and the w3m-img add-on for image display capabilities. For those using Fedora or other RPM-based systems, the installation command is also straightforward: sudo dnf install w3m. On a Mac, you can initiate the installation using Homebrew with brew install w3m, while Windows users may need to compile and run it through Cygwin.

Once installed, navigating w3m is easy—just type w3m followed by the URL in the terminal. For instance, entering w3m maketecheasier.com will render our homepage directly in the terminal without launching a graphical interface.

Before you start using w3m actively, it’s good to familiarize yourself with its essential navigation controls. You can use the arrow keys for movement—scrolling up and down with the respective keys, while the left arrow returns to the previous page, and the right arrow or Enter key follows a link.

My Journey with w3m as a Daily Browser

My experience with w3m as a daily browser was filled with both enlightening moments and some unavoidable setbacks. One of its standout features is the blazing speed at which it loads pages, primarily because it fetches only text without the burden of heavy JavaScript, images, or video content. This aspect proved invaluable during periods of slow internet connectivity, providing a refreshing browsing experience that maintained a lower resource footprint on my laptop, contributing to cooler and quieter operation—even with numerous tabs open.

w3m handles HTML effectively, displaying headings, lists, and paragraphs in a clean, readable format while arranging tables in an intuitive manner. However, it’s crucial to note that by default, images do not render directly; instead, you encounter alt text or placeholders.

Adapting to a keyboard-centric workflow was a surprisingly smooth transition. Once I became familiar with the key shortcuts, entering URLs and navigating through links became effortless. The tab feature is available as well, albeit in a minimalistic form, providing simply numbered text entries to cycle through. However, the lack of session saving means that your browsing history disappears when w3m is closed.

Logging into basic websites or search engines presented no major issues, but any site that relies on JavaScript posed a significant challenge. While I could access Gmail’s basic HTML version, the standard view was inaccessible, and modern, script-heavy sites often rendered as disorganized or incomplete pages.

Navigation, however, proved to be one of the more challenging aspects. Without features such as an omnibox or autocomplete, accessing a new site required me to recall the full address manually each time. I found myself keeping a tab open on DuckDuckGo to facilitate searches, but this felt cumbersome compared to Chrome’s streamlined search capabilities. Browsing with w3m demanded a more methodical approach, which occasionally hindered my efficiency.

From a privacy perspective, I found w3m to be quite liberating. Its absence of JavaScript meant that most ads, trackers, and intrusive pop-ups did not display at all. Cookie banners and other sources of annoyance were eliminated, allowing for a more focused and clutter-free browsing experience.

Reasons to Think Twice About w3m

After spending two weeks using w3m, I’ve grown to appreciate its unique strengths, but I also recognize its limitations in a modern digital environment. While it serves as an intriguing experiment or fits specific needs, it falls short for everyday use.

The absence of JavaScript is undoubtedly the most significant drawback. Without this functionality, websites like Gmail, Google Docs, or social media platforms simply do not operate as intended. Much of the contemporary web relies heavily on scripts, and w3m collapses many sites to barebones, stripped-down presentations. Additionally, w3m lacks native support for media; it handles audio and video poorly, and images can be cumbersome to display.

Usability poses another challenge. The entire experience hinges on keyboard shortcuts, devoid of a visible address bar, bookmarks, or history features. Searching becomes inefficient since there is no combined search-and-address bar or any suggestions. Essential features we take for granted in mainstream browsers, like password managers, synchronization, extensions, or developer tools, are glaringly absent.

Nonetheless, w3m truly excels within its niche. It is particularly advantageous for retrieving information over SSH, functioning on systems without a graphical user interface, or browsing in a distraction-free environment. For focused reading tasks, it proves unexpectedly effective. If you’re seeking an alternative approach to browsing, particularly in light of the growing dissatisfaction with AI-driven browsers, w3m may be worth exploring.

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