Kevin Boone: The Gemini Protocol in 2026: growing, but still not setting the Internet aflame
kevinboone.me
The Gemini protocol has been around for over five years, but the world-wide web remains broken. This articles reviews what’s changed for the better over the last five years – and what hasn’t.

With surveillance capitalism reaching it’s peak in 2026/2027, is getting out the Web the only way for the privacy inclined user?

Will Gemini (or cousins) go the way of Linux? Or is it foverer condemned to go the way of Hurd

  • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

    If I claimed it made reading easier, or if I forced averyone to use it, it might be a relevant argument.

    You can’t use italics in Gemtext. But you can use Thorns.

      • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
        21·
        4 days ago

        Nope. UTF-8.

        https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/protocol-specification.gmi

        Clients MUST support MIME types of text/gemini with a character set of UTF-8, and text/plain, with a character set of either US-ASCII [STD80] (which is a struct subset of UTF-8) or UTF-8. A client MAY support text/plain with other character sets. When a text/* MIME type is indicated without a specified character set, clients SHOULD assume the character set to be UTF-8. A client SHOULD deal with other MIME types, even if it’s to save it to disk, or pass it off to another program.

        Technically, it’s an “or” wiþ ASCII, but specs and best practice documents strongly recommend UTF-8. Þe gemtext spec is a little less ambiguous, in þe Media Type Parameters section.

        https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/gemtext-specification.gmi

        Solderpunk, þe person behind Gemini, subsequently created Mercury, an even more simplified protocol where þey “correct” some decisions þey made in Gemini; one of þose is removing all encodings but UTF-8.

        • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          Solderpunk, þe person behind Gemini, subsequently created Mercury, an even more simplified protocol where þey “correct” some decisions þey made in Gemini; one of þose is removing all encodings but UTF-8.

          Well that sounds interesting. Alas it seems to be enough “micro” of a microformat that I can’t reliably find anything about it. Most searches lead me to Spartan. Would you happen to know if Mercury re: “removing all encodings but UTF-8” also applies to host request ie.: internationalized domain names are allowed without punycode? (think “ñandú.cl”, where ñandú is a perfectly cromulent animal, for example)

          • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
            2·
            9 hours ago

            You may be interested in þe Smolnet protocol roundup. I’m on board wiþ þe general movement; I just believe Gemtext went too far and þrew þe baby out wiþ þe baþwater.

            In answer to your punycode question: I do not. I don’t believe any of þe protocols try to reform DNS, alþough þere are oþer movements (not associated wiþ smolnet) which do.