Elpher is the Gemini browser for Emacs. It works wonderfully and its integration with GNU's editor is sublime. You don't just move between capsules: you can also write your own scripts or build automated flows. It's Emacs, after all. Everything bends to your will.If you still don't know what Gemini is, it's a minimalist protocol, halfway between the web and Gopher, with no JavaScript and no trackers. I cover it in depth in Introduction to the Gemini protocol.Today I want to share a minimal configuration I use to browse more comfortably. Nothing exotic, just a few shortcuts and a couple of tweaks that make a difference day to day.Elpher is on MELPA. I declare it with use-package, so everything stays in a single block: :ensure t installs it the first time, :config defines the function and sets the protocol, and :bind keeps the shortcuts encapsulated. Paste this into your init.el.;; ===;; elpher - Gemini and Gopher client;; https://thelambdalab.xyz/elpher/;; ===(use-package elpher :ensure t :config ;; Smart link following that handles emojis (defun elpher-smart-follow () "Smart link following that handles emojis." (interactive) (let ((current-pos (point))) (beginning-of-line) (if (re-search-forward "=>" (line-end-position) t) (elpher-follow-current-link) (goto-char current-pos) (elpher-follow-current-link)))) ;; Gemini as the default protocol instead of Gopher (setq elpher-default-url-type "gemini") :bind (:map elpher-mode-map ("RET" . elpher-smart-follow) ; follow link, emoji-aware ("l" . elpher-back) ; back, same as eww ("n" . elpher-next-link) ; next link ("p" . elpher-prev-link) ; previous link ("b" . elpher-bookmark-current))) ; bookmark, same as ewwWhat does all this give you? A few improvements you notice right away:n to jump to the next link.p to go back to the previous one.l to return to the previous page, just like in eww.b to save the current page as a bookmark, just like in eww.It widens the clickable area of each link, so you can click on the emojis and not only on the text.It sets Gemini as the default protocol instead of Gopher.Watch out with elpher-smart-follow: it reassigns RET. If you already had that key mapped to something else inside elpher-mode, this overrides it.That last note about emojis seems trivial, but it changes the experience a lot. Many capsules decorate their links with an emoji in front, and if you try to follow them from there, Elpher just sits still. With elpher-smart-follow it no longer matters where the cursor is on the line: if there is a =>, it takes you there.And this is only the beginning. Elpher is Lisp, and Lisp bends to whatever you need: today it is four shortcuts, tomorrow a flow that opens your favorite capsules when Emacs starts. Tinker with it, break it, make it yours.Help me keep writing Every coffee gives me a push toward the next article. Sure, it's on me!Send an email to comment+article-b18ae804@andros.dev to leave a comment. The subject will be ignored.