-# Elopher
+Elpher
+======
-Elopher aims to provide a full-featured gopher client for GNU Emacs.
-It currently supports:
-- simple keyboard and mouse-driven browsing,
+Elpher aims to provide a full-featured gopher client for GNU Emacs.
+
+It supports:
+- simple keyboard and mouse-driven browsing, including out-of-the-box
+ compatibility with evil-mode,
- caching of visited sites,
- clean and configurable visualization of Gopher directories,
-- direct visualisation of image files.
+- direct visualisation of image files,
+- jumping directly to links by name (with autocompletion),
+- clickable web and gopher links in plain text,
+- a simple bookmark management system.
+
+Installation
+------------
+
+Elpher is available from [MELPA](https://melpa.org). If you have
+never installed packages from this repository before, you'll need
+to follow the instructions at https://melpa.org/#/getting-started.
+
+To install Elpher, enter the following:
+
+ M-x package-install RET elpher RET
+
+To uninstall, use `M-x package-delete RET elpher RET`.
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+Once installed, use `M-x elpher` to launch the browser. This will
+open a start page which documents the default key bindings and
+provides some links to help kick start your exploration of gopherspace.
+
+To customize the various faces Elpher uses, the start page
+and a few other odds and ends, use the following:
+
+ M-x customize-group RET elpher RET
+
+History and Caching
+-------------------
+
+This is an aspect of Elpher that perhaps requires separate explanation.
+
+Every item you visit with Elpher is modeled as a "node" in a tree.
+For instance, a gopher directory represents a single node. When
+you open such a directory, Elpher creates nodes for every entry
+in that directory and makes these children of the original directory node:
+
+ X <- current directory node
+ |
+ -------
+ | | |
+ o o o <- nodes representing entries in directory
-Much of Elopher is still under development. Planned features include:
-- optional in-line rendering of image links in directories,
-- better use of standard faces for compatibility different colour schemes,
-- support for multiple Elopher buffers.
+If one of those entries is itself a directory and you click on it,
+Elpher marks that node the current node, and extends the tree as follows:
-Keep the non-web internet alive!
+ o <- original directory node
+ |
+ -------
+ | | |
+ o o X <- current directory node (marked with X)
+ |
+ ---------
+ | | | | |
+ o o o o o <- nodes representing entries in new directory
+
+Pressing the 'u' key (introduced on page which opens when elopher starts)
+always moves to the page representing "parent" node, whatever that is.
-## Installation
+Once a node is visited, its "contents" (i.e. whatever is retrieved
+from the gopher server) are recorded in memory with the corresponding
+node. The cursor position (point) is also stored. If the node is
+visited again in the same session, the cached contents are displayed
+and the cursor returns to its previous position. This makes
+navigating amongst different documents referenced from within the same
+directory very snappy. (To conserve memory, this caching isn't by
+default applied to images entries viewed in the browser.)
-Installation instructions will be added soon.
+This hierarchy is also maintained when gopher URLs are followed from plain
+text documents, and when directories are retrieved explicitly using the 'g'
+key. When it is viewed, the bookmark page also becomes a part of this
+hierarchy.
-## Licence
+Licence
+-------
-Elopher is free software and is distributed under the terms of version
+Elpher is free software and is distributed under the terms of version
3 the GNU General Public License, which can be found in the file named
COPYING.
The Lambda Lab / projects / elpher.git / blobdiff