What is Gemini?
Project Gemini started in June 2019. It can be described by its official site as a new internet protocol which:
- Is heavier than gopher
- Is lighter than the web
- Will not replace either
- Strives for maximum power to weight ratio
- Takes user privacy very seriously
The Gemini protocol is amazing! It aims to develop as a minimalist and private alternative to the modern web, which is very bloated and filled with ads and trackers. The number of sites using it is growing slowly. There is a lot of interest in it in the tech community. This protocol could be a solution to the problem of web bloat.
My Capsule
Gemini sites are called capsules. I launched mine yesterday. I wanted to self-host it on my Raspberry Pi, but faced some technical difficulty. Later I stumbled upon a free hosting service Pollux.casa, which is managed by Adële.
Check out my capsule:
gemini://amer.pollux.casa (Open in any Gemini browser. See examples below)
https://amer.pollux.casa/ (HTTPS mirror of my capsule)
Above, you can see my capsule in Lagrange browser. All the rendering and design is done by the browser. And Lagrange browser renders the page in a beautiful manner.
Writing Gemini capsules is very easy
One of the best features of Gemini is the language in which its pages are written. It is called gemtext, which is a markup language.
The following is the syntax of gemtext:
# Heading
## Sub-heading
### Sub-sub-heading
=> www.someurl.com Link_text
List
* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3
> Blockquote
``` Preformatted text ```
That’s how easy it is to create a page in Gemini. It’s much easier tham doing it in HTML.
Launch your own capsule
I encourage you to create your own capsule. Start with making an offline page. Open up a text editor and write the content using the above syntax and save it with the .gmi extension. Viewing Gemini capsules requires special browsers like Lagrange for desktop, Ariane for Android and Elaho for iOS. The next step is to find a hosting service and host your capsule. There are many free services like pollux.casa.
Update:
I have decided to delete my capsule. It was real fun trying out this new technology and learning about its elegance! But, currently I feel that it’s not worth for me to spend time maintaining the extra site.
