{"id":1606,"date":"2021-12-16T13:33:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/files2.tojikon.net\/files-cloud\/2021\/04\/17\/how-to-use-the-w3m-text-based-web-browser-on-linux\/https:\/\/files2.tojikon.net\/files-cloud\/2021\/04\/17\/how-to-use-the-w3m-text-based-web-browser-on-linux\/"},"modified":"2021-12-16T13:33:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:33:36","slug":"how-to-use-the-w3m-text-based-web-browser-on-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/1606-how-to-use-the-w3m-text-based-web-browser-on-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use the W3M text-based web browser on Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Related Articles<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Do you need a text-based web browser on Linux to use in your terminal? Don\u2019t like using Lynx, as it seems dated and sluggish? Hoping for something better? Check out W3M. It\u2019s a modern text-based terminal web browser for Linux that has much more to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"W3M<\/p>\n

In this guide, we\u2019ll show you how to install W3M on Linux and how to use it too. To start, open up a terminal window and follow along with the guide below!<\/p>\n

Installing W3M on Linux<\/h2>\n

The W3M text-based web browser isn\u2019t pre-installed on any Linux operating system in the mainstream. As a result, before we can go over how to use this web browser to go to your favorite websites, we need to explain how you can install it.<\/p>\n

To start the installation of W3M on Linux, you must open up a terminal window. To open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop, press the\u00a0Ctrl + Alt + T\u00a0<\/strong>keyboard combination. Alternatively, search for \u201cTerminal\u201d in the app menu to open it that way.<\/p>\n

Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, follow along with the installation instructions down below that corresponds with the Linux operating system you use to get the W3M text-based web browser up and running.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu<\/h4>\n

On Ubuntu, the W3M web browser is easily installable with the following\u00a0Apt\u00a0<\/strong>command below in a terminal window.<\/p>\n

\nsudo apt install w3m\n<\/pre>\n
Debian<\/h4>\n
If you\u2019re a Debian Linux user, you\u2019ll be able to get the W3M web browser up and running with the following\u00a0Apt-get\u00a0<\/strong>command below in a terminal window.<\/p>\n
\nsudo apt-get install w3m\n<\/pre>\n
Arch Linux<\/h4>\n
Those on Arch Linux can install the W3M web browser by making use of the\u00a0Pacman\u00a0<\/strong>command below. Be sure you have the \u201cExtra\u201d software repository turned on in your Pacman configuration file to install it.<\/p>\n
\nsudo pacman -S w3m\n<\/pre>\n
Fedora<\/h4>\n
On Fedora Linux, the W3M web browser is available to all users via the\u00a0Dnf\u00a0<\/strong>command below.<\/p>\n
\nsudo dnf install w3m\n<\/pre>\n
OpenSUSE<\/h4>\n
To install the W3M web browser on OpenSUSE Linux, you will need to execute the following\u00a0Zypper\u00a0<\/strong>command below in a terminal window.<\/p>\n
\nsudo zypper install w3m\n<\/pre>\n
How to use W3M on Linux<\/h2>\n
The W3M web browser, although text-based, is a lot more user-friendly and responsive than other text-based browsers (like Lynx, which requires users to accept every cookie manually and is relatively slow and sluggish).<\/p>\n
In this section of the guide, we\u2019ll show you how to use the W3M web browser to its full potential. To start using it, open up a terminal window and follow along below.<\/p>\n
Visiting websites with W3M in text-mode<\/h3>\n
To view any website with W3M in text-only mode (the default viewing mode for the browser), you\u2019ll need to run the\u00a0w3m\u00a0<\/strong>command alongside the URL you wish to visit.<\/p>\n
For example, to view Google.com, you\u2019d need to open up a terminal window and use the\u00a0w3m google.com\u00a0<\/strong>command to load up the website.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
\nw3m google.com\n<\/pre>\n
After entering the command above, you\u2019ll see the basic text-based Google.com homepage load up. However, since you are in the basic text-only mode, you won\u2019t be able to click on the links on the page to access them.<\/p>\n
Instead, to navigate on any page loaded up in W3M in this mode, you\u2019ll need to use the\u00a0Arrow keys\u00a0<\/strong>on the keyboard to select and the Enter key\u00a0<\/strong>to confirm your selection.<\/p>\n
For example, to access the \u201cNews\u201d section of the Google home page, you\u2019d use the\u00a0Arrow keys\u00a0<\/strong>to highlight \u201cNews.\u201d Once \u201cNews\u201d is highlighted, you\u2019d press Enter\u00a0<\/strong>to go to that page.<\/p>\n
To quit this mode in W3M, press the\u00a0q\u00a0<\/strong>button on the keyboard.<\/p>\n
Visiting websites with Monochrome display mode<\/h3>\n
Monochrome display mode in W3M turns the browser into a more interactive browsing experience. Yes, it is still text-based. However, all of the text is stylized in monochromatic color, and it is also possible to use the mouse to click and navigate rather than using the keyboard.<\/p>\n
To use monochrome display mode in W3M, you\u2019ll need to use the\u00a0-M\u00a0<\/strong>command-line switch. For example, to load Google.com in monochrome mode, you\u2019d enter the\u00a0w3m -M google.com\u00a0<\/strong>command.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
\nw3m -M google.com <\/pre>\n
Once in monochrome browsing mode, use the mouse to click on what you want to do on the page. To close the browser at any time, press the\u00a0q\u00a0<\/strong>button on the keyboard.<\/p>\n
More info<\/h2>\n
There\u2019s a lot to talk about when it comes to W3M. In this guide, we\u2019ve covered the basics. However, if you want to know more about W3M, you\u2019ll need to read the manual. To read it, open up a terminal window and enter\u00a0man w3m<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nman w3m\n<\/pre>\n
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1 Comment<\/h3><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Related Articles Do you need a text-based web browser on Linux to use in your terminal? Don\u2019t like using Lynx, as it seems dated and sluggish? Hoping for something better? Check out W3M. It\u2019s a modern text-based terminal web browser for Linux that has much more to offer.\u00a0 In this guide, we\u2019ll show you how …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tojikon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}