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Google Ends Support for Lynx Browser

102 points zhenyi | 44 comments | 10 Sep 25 18:20 UTC | HN request time: 1.442s | source | bottom

Accessing google.com in Lynx now shows:

  Google
  Update your browser
  Your browser isn't supported anymore. To continue your search, upgrade to a recent version. [Learn more]
1. stefanos82 ◴[10 Sep 25 18:32 UTC] No.45201830[source]▶
Seems like elinks is affected too...bummer!
2. ryao ◴[10 Sep 25 20:49 UTC] No.45203473[source]▶
I wonder to what extent visually disabled internet users are affected by this, since I can imagine at least some of them using lynx with an on-screen reader for a terminal emulator.
replies(2): >>45204059 #>>45213918 #
3. LargoLasskhyfv ◴[10 Sep 25 21:10 UTC] No.45203768[source]▶
Is Google exempted from the ADA?
replies(1): >>45204075 #
4. ChrisArchitect ◴[10 Sep 25 21:18 UTC] No.45203885[source]▶
Suggest changing title to something along lines of "Tell HN: Accessing google in lynx now shows unsupported"

Maybe, like in 2019 when a similar submission got traction, you'll be able to get it restored.

(I am no longer able to use Google with Lynx https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21626995)

replies(1): >>45207182 #
5. ChrisArchitect ◴[10 Sep 25 21:21 UTC] No.45203934[source]▶
Related discussion earlier this year:

Google begins requiring JavaScript for Google Search

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42747092

replies(1): >>45213210 #
6. bitpush ◴[10 Sep 25 21:28 UTC] No.45204059[source]▶
What's the advantage of using lynx as opposed to Chrome/Safari and using the read aloud features?
replies(1): >>45206120 #
7. bitpush ◴[10 Sep 25 21:29 UTC] No.45204075[source]▶
Safari offers https://www.apple.com/accessibility/ features, so I'm pretty sure someone with visual disability can access google no issues.
replies(1): >>45204258 #
8. LargoLasskhyfv ◴[10 Sep 25 21:40 UTC] No.45204258{3}[source]▶
Seriously? Apple only?

But Linux! And *BSD! Or some Illumos.

Or in general just some effin textmode terminal, running whatever is able to run Lynx/Links/Elinks(2?).

replies(1): >>45212082 #
9. samtheDamned ◴[10 Sep 25 21:55 UTC] No.45204486[source]▶
maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction but I don't see any good reason for this. At it's core Google's job is to take an input and list outputs. The marketshare of people using lynx is small enough that whatever advertising or ai extras they want to squeeze in won't be meaningfully impacted by not working on lynx.

Edit: corrected spelling error

replies(2): >>45205040 #>>45205551 #
10. salted-fry ◴[10 Sep 25 22:00 UTC] No.45204566[source]▶
I just tested changing user agents in Chrome - setting UA to a random string like "fff" gets a search page, but setting it to "Links" or "Lynx" gets "Your browser isn't supported anymore" - which is to say, this doesn't look accidental, but more like these UAs are specifically being blocked.

EDIT: Forging user agent in Links (with links -http.fake-user-agent) gets a usable homepage, but the results page just sends you to a turn-on-your-javascript page.

replies(2): >>45214879 #>>45222741 #
11. teejmya ◴[10 Sep 25 22:10 UTC] No.45204693[source]▶
Try http://frogfind.com/
replies(1): >>45205346 #
12. pachouli-please ◴[10 Sep 25 22:37 UTC] No.45205040[source]▶
Google's job is to sell ads, not provide accessibility to text-only browsers.

(for the record I grow to dislike g more every day, and also this move)

13. benbristow ◴[10 Sep 25 23:06 UTC] No.45205346[source]▶
Server error
14. codedokode ◴[10 Sep 25 23:25 UTC] No.45205551[source]▶
Internet marketers can misuse this to send lot of automated requests instead of paying for API access.
replies(1): >>45207858 #
15. ryao ◴[11 Sep 25 00:30 UTC] No.45206120{3}[source]▶
Ask someone who is visually impaired. I know that they historically use browsers that do not support JavaScript. I also am acquainted with one developer who uses software for reading his terminal outloud, although I never asked the specifics of what he uses for web browsing or IRC for that matter. I do know that he loves the iPhone.

That said, I just found this post by a blind person who uses Lynx and complained about it the last time Google broke Lynx support:

https://blind.guru/blog/2019-11-25-endofgoogle.html

replies(1): >>45212040 #
16. userbinator ◴[11 Sep 25 01:11 UTC] No.45206455[source]▶
I wonder if an Invidious or Nitter-like solution will be coming soon, as no doubt me and countless others, although still a minority, are now truly motivated to do something about it.

These bastards have truly ruined what's left of the open Internet. Google, FUCK YOU!

replies(3): >>45207505 #>>45207874 #>>45208632 #
17. userbinator ◴[11 Sep 25 02:55 UTC] No.45207182[source]▶
Try asking the Google employee there directly if you can.
18. gh02t ◴[11 Sep 25 03:38 UTC] No.45207505[source]▶
For search, you mean? SearXNG has been around for a while and is excellent. I have used it for years as my main search. Not sure if it supports lynx but a least they don't arbitrarily block it.
19. bdhcuidbebe ◴[11 Sep 25 04:41 UTC] No.45207858{3}[source]▶
Lol, what?

Anyone can spoof UA…

replies(1): >>45209562 #
20. bdhcuidbebe ◴[11 Sep 25 04:43 UTC] No.45207874[source]▶
You wonder…

Just google it.

https://search.sethforprivacy.com/

How do kids today even survive online?

replies(1): >>45208108 #
21. RAM-bunctious ◴[11 Sep 25 04:45 UTC] No.45207883[source]▶
I don't feel it's particularly controversial to think that Javascript shouldn't be a requirement to use the internet. This is one step towards making that the case.
replies(1): >>45208104 #
22. rgreekguy ◴[11 Sep 25 05:26 UTC] No.45208104[source]▶
From a normal browser (don't ask me what I mean by that), with its normal/default user agent, Google search does not work without Javascript. I think at all, any more, but at some point I had got rate limited of sorts, after using the search without Javascript for a little, I got a prompt to enable it.
23. userbinator ◴[11 Sep 25 05:26 UTC] No.45208108{3}[source]▶
Just google it.

You might want to take a look at the context.

replies(1): >>45210567 #
24. horseradish7k ◴[11 Sep 25 06:57 UTC] No.45208632[source]▶
4get is pretty decent
25. anon1395 ◴[11 Sep 25 08:44 UTC] No.45209297[source]▶
Seems like they are cracking down on people who use Google without JavaScript.
26. maltelandwehr ◴[11 Sep 25 08:53 UTC] No.45209341[source]▶
This is more about requiring JavaScript that blocking specific browsers. I think all the new LLM labs (plus all the tools offering SEO services for LLM-based search and answer engines) finally reached a limit of scraping that Google no longer can sustain.
27. codedokode ◴[11 Sep 25 09:33 UTC] No.45209562{4}[source]▶
Standard Google page can use JS and WASM to fingerprint device and detect bots. No-JS page cannot detect bots so it makes sense to shut it down to prevent using it for bot detection bypass.
replies(1): >>45210577 #
28. flaptrap ◴[11 Sep 25 09:38 UTC] No.45209586[source]▶
The most efficient way to search is to read the text. Waiting for images to download and then admire them cannot improve that. It looks like Google has lost relevance and is telling us, again.
replies(1): >>45214007 #
29. bdhcuidbebe ◴[11 Sep 25 12:03 UTC] No.45210567{4}[source]▶
And you need to calibrate your humor ;-)
30. bdhcuidbebe ◴[11 Sep 25 12:05 UTC] No.45210577{5}[source]▶
That is besides the point.

I can spoof UA today with lynx, curl or what ever that isnt executing js.

See topic.

31. tdeck ◴[11 Sep 25 14:20 UTC] No.45212040{4}[source]▶
That may have been true decades ago but I think this is pretty marginal these days. All the Blind people I have talked to use mainstream browsers. GUI browsers actually provide more metadata to screen readers than something like Lynx can, and they actually work with websites people need to access.
32. tdeck ◴[11 Sep 25 14:24 UTC] No.45212082{4}[source]▶
On Linux you use Orca with your browser of choice. On Windows you use JAWS or NVDA with your browser of choice. All major browsers support screen readers.
33. TorstenK ◴[11 Sep 25 16:07 UTC] No.45213210[source]▶
When resources are an issue, this does matter. I use to store previous Lynx/ Links search results in history lists, to allow browsing within local files later. Creating such lists with Firefox is a mess. (This browser tends to block my Thinpad for hours.) Really sad. Google was a key to the internet. Torsten
34. duskwuff ◴[11 Sep 25 17:16 UTC] No.45213918[source]▶
Not to any meaningful degree. Lynx (or other terminal-based browsers) would be an extraordinarily poor choice of browser for a non-sighted user, as it lays text out visually in the terminal (e.g. using color and indentation to distinguish between types of text) and does not provide accessibility cues. Those users are much better served by standard GUI web browsers.
35. hulitu ◴[11 Sep 25 17:25 UTC] No.45214007[source]▶
> The most efficient way to search is to read the text.

"Maybe for you"

> Waiting for images to download and then admire them cannot improve that.

"It does improve the way we track you"

> It looks like Google has lost relevance and is telling us, again.

They just got patted on the back by regulators in US so they don't give a fsck.

36. extraduder_ire ◴[11 Sep 25 18:53 UTC] No.45214879[source]▶
My impression is that support for less common browsers and other unusual uses of google products has survived due to pet interest by individual googlers and not any sort of widespread policy.
replies(1): >>45220357 #
37. kn0where ◴[12 Sep 25 09:29 UTC] No.45220357{3}[source]▶
A lot of those individual googlers are longtimers who are now leaving after 15, 20 years. Google has been offering voluntary exit packages this year and I suspect the kind of people who would value Google.com working in Lynx are also the type who have made plenty of money and are disillusioned by what the company has become.
38. SnuffBox ◴[12 Sep 25 12:21 UTC] No.45221353[source]▶
I noticed this the other day as I (previously) used an old Firefox UA to get a more simple, streamlined legacy interface. I don't know why they did this.
39. xacky ◴[12 Sep 25 12:34 UTC] No.45221453[source]▶
Internet Explorer versions below 11 are getting the message too. Impacting those who use legacy Windows versions.
40. d--b ◴[12 Sep 25 14:11 UTC] No.45222358[source]▶
yet another use for https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45181535
41. eimrine ◴[12 Sep 25 14:48 UTC] No.45222741[source]▶
Google loves to search the result with a real URL but since I make any click on that result Google replaces it with some referral link. For example, if I want to open the result not from my connection but from Tor I need to clean each link by hand or even type it from scratch. I am sure this ban was made for poisoning UX for console guys too. What a pity I didn't know I could search from console browser and having more easy life.
replies(1): >>45247337 #
42. hieloz ◴[15 Sep 25 05:22 UTC] No.45246372[source]▶
whoogle search is affected now.
43. Elfener ◴[15 Sep 25 08:19 UTC] No.45247337{3}[source]▶
This extension removes that behaviour: https://github.com/Rob--W/dont-track-me-google