Web browsing in emacspeak can be made as simple or as complicated as you wish to make it. On the one hand, all that need be done is to open a web browser and fetch a particular url. This works fine in many cases with exceptions being things like html tables. On the other hand, if you spend a little time learning a particular browser and its functionality, web browsing can be made more efficient and the web more navigable.
This document is intended to be an introduction to the 2 primary browsers that run under emacs: emacs/w3 and EWW. I also intend to introduce a couple of add-on packages intended to make life easier and to address specific shortcomings.
The primary reason for this documentation is the fact that a lot of the documentation of the various functions tells exactly what it does, but not why or in what circumstance one might use it. Hopefully I can remedy that here.
While this document is geared toward emacspeak users, it might be helpful for other users as well. I have tried to note where functions are specific to emacspeak.
This document assumes emacs is installed. If reading the section on a particular browser and trying out the associated functions, it, of course, assumes that the browser is installed and working. For features specific to emacspeak, a working install of emacspeak is necessary. It is far beyond the scope of this document to help with the installation of these programs.
For help with installing any of the above bits of software, the following mailing lists and / or newsgroups are available:
gnu.emacs.helpIt is highly suggested that the mailing list archives, google, and the relevant documentation be consulted before posting messages to any mailing list. Nothing is more irritating than answering the same questions over and over. Those of you with kids know what I am talking about.
It is also assumed that the reader is comfortable with using emacs itself. Understanding the convention for communicating keystrokes to run commands, navigating documents, and the like are not covered.