How to simply my browser
September 28, 2005 2:42 PM Subscribe
I want to disguise my browser. I want all text to be black on white background, all images replaced by the "alt" text. I wouldn't mind if all text were one font as well. Can I do this?
I would prefer a Firefox extension, but really any browser for Windows would work. Lynx is out, I tried it for a couple of days, and it was just too convoluted to work.
I would prefer a Firefox extension, but really any browser for Windows would work. Lynx is out, I tried it for a couple of days, and it was just too convoluted to work.
It sounds like an interesting project for any browser that allows you to specify your own style sheet.
posted by gimonca at 2:58 PM on September 28, 2005
posted by gimonca at 2:58 PM on September 28, 2005
You might want to look into ghostzilla, depending on how hidden you want your browser to be.
posted by philscience at 3:05 PM on September 28, 2005
posted by philscience at 3:05 PM on September 28, 2005
What Galvatron said, and you'll probably also want to disable Java and Javascript under "Web Features" to keep some images from loading.
I am trying all this right now, and it doesn't, in my opinion, really disguise the fact that you are surfing the Web, mostly because of page layouts and the characteristic look of links. But you may disagree.
posted by keatsandyeats at 3:09 PM on September 28, 2005
I am trying all this right now, and it doesn't, in my opinion, really disguise the fact that you are surfing the Web, mostly because of page layouts and the characteristic look of links. But you may disagree.
posted by keatsandyeats at 3:09 PM on September 28, 2005
I am using Ghostzilla right now, and it's pretty cool. Thanks, philscience!
posted by everichon at 3:20 PM on September 28, 2005
posted by everichon at 3:20 PM on September 28, 2005
Response by poster: OK...it seems to be working pretty well.
I have my colors set to white on black, and my font set to Courier New. My link colors are dark and light grey.
I turned off the image loading and ugly broken image links came up, so I brought up about.config and changed browser.display.show_image_placeholders to false. Now the browser works exactly like I would like, thanks a million!
posted by patrickje at 3:32 PM on September 28, 2005
I have my colors set to white on black, and my font set to Courier New. My link colors are dark and light grey.
I turned off the image loading and ugly broken image links came up, so I brought up about.config and changed browser.display.show_image_placeholders to false. Now the browser works exactly like I would like, thanks a million!
posted by patrickje at 3:32 PM on September 28, 2005
On Opera, you can go to View->Style->User Mode and select "Emulate text browser"
posted by gyc at 4:22 PM on September 28, 2005
posted by gyc at 4:22 PM on September 28, 2005
Until I decided that they don't pay enough attention to me at work for it to matter, I had the following lines in my userContent.css:
*{
background-color:#ccc ! important;
font-size:8pt ! important;
font-family: Tahoma ! important;
font-weight: normal ! important;
line-height: normal ! important;
letter-spacing: normal ! important;
color:#333 ! important;
border-style: none ! important;
text-decoration:none ! important;
}
b, strong {font-style: italic ! important}
input, textarea, button {border: 1px solid #eee ! important;}
img {background: #ddd ! important;}
hr {color: #eee ! important}
a, a *{font-family: serif ! important;}
a:hover {text-decoration:underline ! important;}
blink { text-decoration: none ! important; }
posted by skryche at 12:18 PM on September 29, 2005
*{
background-color:#ccc ! important;
font-size:8pt ! important;
font-family: Tahoma ! important;
font-weight: normal ! important;
line-height: normal ! important;
letter-spacing: normal ! important;
color:#333 ! important;
border-style: none ! important;
text-decoration:none ! important;
}
b, strong {font-style: italic ! important}
input, textarea, button {border: 1px solid #eee ! important;}
img {background: #ddd ! important;}
hr {color: #eee ! important}
a, a *{font-family: serif ! important;}
a:hover {text-decoration:underline ! important;}
blink { text-decoration: none ! important; }
posted by skryche at 12:18 PM on September 29, 2005
Awesome stuff! Now is there a Firefox extension that allows me to easily switch between some of the settings above and my current settings?
For the record, I'm not trying to hide my slacking at work (after all, I don't try to hide the fact that I'm doing work when I'm at home). I just get uncomfortable when people look over my shoulder at what I'm doing when I'm using my laptop in public. When they see a screen full of text, they tend to back off.
posted by Eamon at 10:40 AM on September 30, 2005
For the record, I'm not trying to hide my slacking at work (after all, I don't try to hide the fact that I'm doing work when I'm at home). I just get uncomfortable when people look over my shoulder at what I'm doing when I'm using my laptop in public. When they see a screen full of text, they tend to back off.
posted by Eamon at 10:40 AM on September 30, 2005
Another tip, which you can also use on Internet Explorer, or mobile devices such as Blackberries or Plam Pilots:
IYHY is a completely free proxying service that will strip out all images and will re-format content really "thin". I have no idea what their business model is, but I use that site to fulfill the need you describe.
posted by crazyray at 2:22 PM on October 1, 2005
IYHY is a completely free proxying service that will strip out all images and will re-format content really "thin". I have no idea what their business model is, but I use that site to fulfill the need you describe.
posted by crazyray at 2:22 PM on October 1, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Galvatron at 2:54 PM on September 28, 2005