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Mark Henderson
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Column 80 - Plain Text optimised Stack Exchange

##Screenshot / Code Snippet Column 80

##About

Browsing the existing Stack Exchange family of websites was OK in a text-based browser, but when you're stuck in a Linux shell with no way out and no other computers around and you just know you saw the answer on Server Fault last week, this is how you can find it easily.

It assumes you already have existing knowledge of the SE family of sites in order to navigate.

###License

Public Domain. Feel free to do with it what you will. Grab it here (note: This is the old v1 API. I have not packaged v2 yet).

###Access

http://www.column80.com/ (note: looks like rubbish in modern browsers, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc. It has got to be viewed in Lynx to get the full effect).

###Platform

Optimised for Lynx. This sounded pretty niche when I made it, but it looks like it might already have been some use to some users!

##Contact

Leave some feedback in this question.

##Code

I haven't done any programming in about five years, so it was also a way for me refresh my skills. It uses the PHPStack by Thomas McDonald. If you really want the source and you promise not to make (public) fun of me, then I'd be more than happy to share. I've cleaned up the code a bit, and incorporated some suggestions from the public, so I feel comfortable releasing the code. Grab it here.

  • (10th Jun 2010) now updated to incorporate the unannounced API changes
  • (25th Jun 2010) changed front page to retrieve data from StackAuth, and changed URL format to prepare for URL Rewriting (using stack.PHP)
  • (11th Jul 2010) now updated to work with the v1.0 API (the list of Stack Apps sites is looking healthy!)
  • (9th May 2014) updated the site to use the v2 of the API. Removed some never-used features such as tag search and user profiles, as I'm pretty short on time.
Mark Henderson
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