An era ends in the last weeks of 2019.

Since about two weeks, I am no longer able to use Google with my favorite text-mode web browser, Lynx.

It started about a month ago, when I noticed that sometimes, after submitting my search query, I was presented with a search result page which didn’t allow to invoke the actual links. When I reloaded the start page, it suddenly worked again. So I guess Google was doing experiments with its users. If someone didn’t actually click on any result links, and reloaded the main page, they gave them the old start page.

But now, the redesign seems to be finalized, and I am no longer able to use Google with Lynx at all.

I don’t have a X11 session open all the time, and I don’t have a Windows PC running next to my Linux workstation. So I don’t have an easy way to switch to a graphical browser just to be able to research things while I do my work.

Luckily, there is duckduckgo. However, I have to admit, the search results of duckduckgo are by far inferior to what Google used to give. However, being a blind person, I guess I have to accept that Google doesn’t care anymore.

Maybe I should delete my Google account as a consequence.

Bye bye mainstream, hello ghetto.

UPDATE

This rant has been featured on Hacker News. A Google dev noticed the thread and managed to get basic Lynx support back online in just a few hours. I am impressed and grateful. However, the new design is still a step backwards. It is less clear which link will take you to which site, and there is no way to retrieve cached versions of websites anymore.