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Comment by djsumdog | Hacker News Reader

I wanted to try out making gemini pages. I got some of the example servers, but no where in the official gemini spec, both via http and via gemini, could I find examples of the actual freakin gmi/gml formats!

I started up Wireshark and then remembered that the traffic is encrypted by default ... so yea, that's not going to help.

Are there any gemini tutorial on how to make a gemini site?

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I've dipped into Gemini to see if it was worth adding to my gopher client[1], but the defined spec is vague and barely complete. I subscribed to their mailing list, and it's really busy - the spec is clearly in flux and developing rapidly.

I'm going to keep an eye on it though.

[1] http://www.jaruzel.com/gopher/gopher-client-browser-for-wind...

If you check out the official specs[1] scroll down to "5 The text/gemini media type", and especially "5.4 Core line types".

Summary: you write plain text. Use linefeeds to separate paragraphs, not lines of text ("Multiple consecutive lines which are shorter than the client's display device MUST NOT be combined into fewer, longer lines.").

Links go on lines by themselves, like:

  =>[<whitespace>]<URL>[<whitespace><USER-FRIENDLY LINK NAME>]

Wrap preformatted blocks in "```", like in Markdown.

Mark headers with "#", "##", or "###", like in Markdown.

Write lists like "* item", like in Markdown.

Write quotes on lines starting with ">", like in Markdown.

There, that's 99% of the Gemini format spec.

[1]https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/...

I think AV-98 has a setting or function for dumping the raw results of a gemsite.

But I think the main reason there's no example is because there's very little to show. Just make a text document and if you need to link to something you use the Gemini method of => URL title text

There's a few other things in the spec that are considered hints for clients (using # as headers, * for numbered lists) but those aren't even guaranteed to be rendered by the client as anything but plain text.

So does elpher. But you don't need a dedicated client to see the raw server response, all you need to really do is use something like 'gnutls-cli hostname -p 1965 --no-ca-verification' and then enter the full gemini URL once you have a connection.

If you have a working gemini client, could you not just look at a server's response and piece together the format? I'm curious because I'd also like to play around with gemini.

From their FAQ page, you can try Gemini out, just run:

ssh kiosk@gemini.circumlunar.space

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