Installation considerations
Some of these programs need to be compiled from source.
There are several reasons for wanting to use a terminalbased web browser. Often it’s because you don’t want to leave the command line. Other times it’s because you don’t have a graphical user interface, which is the case when you’re working over ssh. In either case you need to make sure you have the correct software installed.
By default, w3m is usually present on Linux systems. The others in this month’s Roundup are usually available from repositories or in some cases only as source code. Installing the other browsers is done through with your package manager. Lynx has very few dependencies, while w3m has more because it supports images. There are also more options, including w3m-el so you can run it inside of Emacs. Of course, you can use eww for that too, which is a module for Emacs.
When you look closely at elinks, you’ll find many more dependencies. This is because the program supports many more standards. It also supports browser scripting and CSS. This also makes elinks one of the most capable browsers of all the programs on test this month.
To get as much of a graphical browser experience as your terminal can support, you need to look to browsh. This browser only depends on Firefox, but if you want to use it remotely then Mosh is the natural choice.
Even when choosing a text-based browser, you may still be interested in performance. So, can you compile on your own easily? If you look through the code, you’ll quickly realise that these are mostly C or C++ with the exception of browsh.
To compile Lynx, use the regular make command. You have a makefile in the C++ directory. Nothing is odd about this build if you’ve compiled anything for your Linux box yourself. Links, Elinks and w3m also have C-code, a makefile and in the case of w3m some awk to set your environment up.
The story for browsh is different to say the least: you need an npm install, Webpack and Firefox 56 or higher. For web developers and, frankly, anyone beyond beginner level, this shouldn’t pose a problem, but it’s important to bear in mind if you want to compile inside a virtual private server.