"There is an unresolved tension between the sender and recipient of information — who is to be in charge of the final form presentation? HTML clearly champions the recipient."
— Telektronikk 4/93
Bare's story is really one long argument about a single question: when you read a document, who decides how it looks — the author, or you? The web has answered that question differently in different decades. Bare exists to give one particular answer — you do — and this page traces how that question was first asked, gradually lost, and is now being asked again.
🇳🇴 A Norwegian thread (1993)
Before the web was commercial, it was an experiment — and some of that experiment happened in Norway.
In 1993, researchers at Norwegian Telecom Research (Televerkets Forskningsinstitutt) were building MultiTorg, an early "distributed electronic information marketplace." Their account of it appeared in the journal Telektronikk 4/93, which became one of the first journals in the world published in full on the World Wide Web and went on to win a "Best of the Web '94" award.
The problem they described is the one the internet has never fully solved: a "Tower of Babel" of incompatible document formats. Their survey ran through the contenders — the rich and complex ODA (Office Document Architecture), the flexible SGML, and SGML's small, pragmatic offspring, HTML — and reached a conclusion that still defines Bare:
"There is an unresolved tension between the sender and recipient of information — who is to be in charge of the final form presentation? HTML clearly champions the recipient."
On the early web, in other words, the reader was in charge. The author marked up meaning; the reader's software decided the appearance.
One of the article's co-authors was Håkon Wium Lie. Two years later, in 1994, he proposed Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) — handing a measure of presentational control back to authors. It was a reasonable idea that, over three decades, helped tilt the balance all the way to today's web, where the author (and the advertiser) controls nearly everything and the reader controls almost nothing. Bare is, in a sense, a vote for the 1993 position.
🌱 Roots: The Original Internet
ARPANET
The internet as we know it today began as ARPANET in 1969, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The goal was to create a decentralized communication network that could survive a nuclear attack.
Key characteristics of the early internet:
- Text-based: Everything was text — email, file transfers, discussions
- Open: Protocols were simple and publicly documented
- Decentralized: No central control
- Academic: Primarily used by researchers and students
Invention of the World Wide Web
In 1989, while working at CERN in Switzerland, Tim Berners-Lee proposed a system for sharing information between researchers.
He invented:
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language) — For structuring documents
- HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) — For transferring documents
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — For identifying resources
- The first browser — "WorldWideWeb.app" for NeXT computers
The first website (info.cern.ch) went online in 1991 and explained what the World Wide Web was.
The First Browsers
The earliest browsers were simple, text-based tools:
- ViolaWWW (1991) — Written by Pei-Yuan Wei
- Lynx (1992) — The first popular text-based browser
- Mosaic (1993) — The first graphical browser
These early browsers were:
- Simple: No advanced features
- Fast: Loading pages in fractions of a second
- Secure: No way to run malicious code
📜 The Markdown Revolution (2004)
Invention of Markdown
In March 2004, John Gruber (creator of the Daring Fireball blog) launched Markdown — a simple, readable format for writing structured text.
Co-creator: Aaron Swartz
The young programmer and activist Aaron Swartz (1986-2013) played a crucial role in the development of Markdown. He:
- Contributed to syntax design
- Wrote the first Markdown to HTML converter
- Was an important "sounding board" for Gruber
Swartz had previously invented the atx markup language, which influenced Markdown's heading syntax.
Markdown Philosophy
Gruber and Swartz designed Markdown with the following principles:
- Readable as plain text: Markdown files should look good even without formatting
- Easy to write: The syntax should be intuitive
- Machine-readable: Easy to parse and convert to other formats
- Compatible: Should work with existing tools
Markdown's Influence
Markdown quickly became popular among:
- Bloggers — Easier than HTML for writing posts
- Developers — Used in README files (GitHub adopted it in 2009)
- Writers — Simple format for documentation
Today, Markdown is used everywhere:
- GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
- Reddit, Stack Overflow
- Obsidian, Notion
- Over 1 billion Markdown files on GitHub
🌐 Text-Based Protocols
Gopher Protocol (1991)
While Tim Berners-Lee was inventing the World Wide Web, Mark P. McCahill and his team at University of Minnesota created the Gopher protocol.
What was Gopher?
- A menu-based system for navigating and retrieving documents
- Designed for text-based terminals
- Supported hierarchical structures (menus and submenus)
- Was simpler than the Web in many ways
Gopher's popularity:
- In 1992, there were over 1000 Gopher servers in operation
- Gopher was more popular than the Web in the early years
- University of Minnesota charged a license fee for commercial use (1993)
Gopher's decline:
- Web supported hyperlinks (Gopher only had menus)
- Web supported images (Gopher was text-based)
- Web was open (Gopher had license restrictions)
Gopher today:
- Gopherspace: The collective network of Gopher servers
- ~100-200 active servers (2024)
- Enthusiast community keeping the protocol alive
- Inspiration for new, minimalist protocols
Gemini Protocol (2019)
In June 2019, a developer under the pseudonym Solderpunk launched the Gemini protocol.
Background:
Solderpunk was active in the Gopherspace community and had grown frustrated with the modern web's complexity, its surveillance, and the way even "simple" pages had become heavy and hostile. Gemini was an attempt to build something deliberately in between — and to make it impossible to grow into another web.
Why "Gemini"?
The name references NASA's Gemini space program — the "middle child" between Mercury and Apollo. Gemini the protocol sees itself the same way: more capable than Gopher (Mercury) but far simpler than the web (Apollo), doing more with less rather than trying to do everything.
Design principles:
- Privacy — minimal metadata, no cookies, no tracking; "break all loops"
- User autonomy — the client decides how content is presented, not the author
- Non-extensibility — intentionally hard to extend, so it cannot bloat
- Simplicity — a complete client can be written by one person in a weekend
Every request uses mandatory TLS and follows a strict "one network transaction per click" rule — fetching a page never drags in fonts, scripts, or trackers.
Gemtext format:
# Heading
## Subheading
This is a paragraph.
=> https://example.com Link descriptionA small but real network:
After a surge of attention on Hacker News in May 2020, Geminispace grew into a modest, deliberately non-commercial community. A mid-2023 crawl counted roughly:
- ~425,000 URLs
- ~2,500 capsules (sites)
- ~1,700 domains across ~1,200 hosts
Small by web standards — and that is exactly the point. Gemini is, in its own words, more like browsing a library than wandering through a shopping mall or a casino.
🖥️ Text-Based Browsers
The first browsers were text-based, and they continue to be important tools:
Lynx (1992 — Present)
Origin:
- Developed at University of Kansas in 1992
- Name comes from the lynx (animal), known for its sharp vision
- Created as a Gopher client, but was adapted for the Web
Features:
- Full HTML support (displays text only)
- SSL/TLS support
- Bookmarks and history
- Form support (limited)
Use cases:
- Accessibility: Popular among visually impaired
- Privacy: No images, no JavaScript = no tracking
- Server administration: Used to check websites from the command line
Status: Still actively maintained (2024)
Links (1999 — Present)
Origin:
- Written by Mikulas Patocka in 1999
- Created as a text-based browser
Features:
- Graphical mode (Links2) with image support
- CSS support (limited)
- JavaScript support (experimental)
- Tab support
Status: Still actively developed
w3m (1995 — Present)
Origin:
- Developed in Japan in 1995
- Name stands for "WWW text-based browser"
Features:
- Support for colors in the terminal
- Support for SSL
- Inline images (on terminals that support it)
- Tab support
- Bookmarks and history
Special features:
- Emacs integration: Can be used inside Emacs
- URL rewriting: Can redirect links
- Tor support: Can be used with torsocks
Status: Still maintained
🔄 Web Evolution: From Simplicity to Complexity
The internet has undergone a dramatic transformation since the early days:
Early 90s (1991-1995):
- Simple websites: HTML files with minimal formatting
- Static pages: No databases, no server-side scripting
- Personal publishing: Anyone could create a website
Mid 90s (1995-2000):
- JavaScript (1995): Adds interactivity
- CSS (1996): Separates content from presentation
- CGI (1993): Server-side scripting
- Databases: Dynamic websites
Early 2000s (2000-2005):
- .com bubble (2000): Explosive growth in commercial websites
- Google AdSense (2003): Ads become a major industry
- Social media: MySpace (2003), Facebook (2004)
- Web 2.0: User-generated content
Mid 2000s (2005-2010):
- AJAX (2005): Asynchronous page updates
- YouTube (2005): Video becomes dominant
- iPhone (2007): Mobile browsers
- Cloud computing: Data moves to the cloud
Early 2010s (2010-2015):
- Smartphones: Mobile browsers dominate
- Social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Tracking: Cookies, fingerprints, tracking technologies
- SPA (Single Page Applications): JavaScript-rendered pages
Mid 2010s (2015-2020):
- React, Angular, Vue: JavaScript frameworks dominate
- AMP: Google's attempt to make the web faster
- GDPR (2018): Privacy regulation in the EU
- Dark Patterns: Design as manipulation
Early 2020s (2020-2024):
- JAMstack: Static websites with JavaScript
- Serverless: Backend as a service
- WebAssembly: Native performance in the browser
- Privacy focus: GDPR, CCPA, cookie banners
Minimalist movements:
- IndieWeb: Own your own content
- Static Site Generators: Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy
- Markdown-first: Write in Markdown, publish anywhere
- Alternative protocols: Gemini, Gopher, IPFS
💡 Bare's Place in History
Bare represents a return to the roots while embracing modern technology:
| Aspect | Early Web (1990) | Modern Web (2020) | Bare (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Format | HTML | HTML+CSS+JS | Markdown |
| Content | Text | Multimedia | Text |
| Size | KB | MB | KB |
| Complexity | Low | High | Low |
| Privacy | Good | Poor | Excellent |
| Performance | Fast | Slow | Lightning fast |
| Technology | Simple | Complex | Modern, simple |
Why Markdown?
- Historical continuity: Markdown is a natural continuation of the text-based internet
- Simplicity: As simple as HTML was in 1990
- Readability: Can be read as plain text
- Convertibility: Can be converted to HTML, PDF, etc.
- Popularity: Already widespread among developers and writers
Why Tauri?
- Lightweight: Like the early browsers
- Secure: Rust provides memory safety
- Modern: Uses modern WebView technology
- Cross-platform: Works on all major operating systems
Why Text-Based Protocols?
- Historical heritage: Gopher and Gemini represent the text-based tradition
- Privacy: Mandatory encryption (Gemini)
- Simplicity: No images, no JavaScript
- Curiosity: Exploration of alternative web experiences
🎯 Bare as Part of the Minimalist Movement
Bare is not alone. It's part of a growing movement towards a simpler, more privacy-focused internet:
Similar Projects
| Project | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lagrange | Graphical Gemini client | Active |
| Amfora | Terminal-based Gemini client | Active |
| Bombadillo | Text-based browser for Gemini and Gopher | Active |
| Gopherus | Modern Gopher client | Active |
| Elinks | Advanced text-based browser | Active |
Minimalist Websites
- Motherfucking Website — A manifesto for simple websites
- The Minimalist Web — Resources for minimalist web development
Open Source Movement
Bare is part of the open source movement, which has its roots back to:
- Free Software Foundation (1985)
- GNU Project (1983)
- Open Source Initiative (1998)
🔮 The Future
What's in Store for Bare?
Short-term (0-2 years):
- Stable, user-friendly browser
- Full support for Markdown, Gemini, Gopher
- Growing user community
Medium-term (2-5 years):
- A full ecosystem for text-based browsing
- Integration with other open source projects
- Inspiration for new, minimalist browsers
Long-term (5+ years):
- To contribute to a renaissance of text-based internet
- To inspire a new generation of developers
- To preserve the original spirit of the internet
Challenges
- Adoption: Convincing people of the benefits of text-based browsing
- Content: Ensuring there's enough Markdown content available
- Ecosystem: Building an ecosystem of tools and services
- Sustainability: Ensuring long-term maintenance
Opportunities
- Privacy awareness: Growing focus on privacy
- Minimalism trend: People seeking simplicity
- Text-based content: Markdown is more popular than ever
- Alternative protocols: Growing interest in Gemini and Gopher
🔗 Historical Resources
Gopher
- Gopher Protocol Wikipedia
- History of Gopher
- Gopherus — Modern Gopher client
Gemini
- Gemini Protocol Official Site
- History of Project Gemini
gemi://geminiprotocol.net— Explore Geminispace
Markdown
- Markdown Wikipedia
- Daring Fireball: Markdown
- CommonMark — Markdown specification