 The third major version of NICST, a keyboard-driven browser, was released on June 9th, 2023. The new release includes a number of new features and improvements, making it a powerful and versatile tool for keyboard-only browsing. The concept sounds almost insane, a keyboard-only web browser, so I will very quickly go through what's new in the latest version, and then let's actually talk about the concept itself. If you're interested only in the second part, you can go at the time in the screen. So let's start with the most exciting new feature of NICST 3, support for user screens. So user screens are these little chunks of code that work their magic by modifying how websites behave. They offer a world of possibilities like adding awesome new features, fixing pesky bugs or even revamping a website appearance. And guess what? NICST now supports both a gris monkey and tamper monkey user scripts. This means that you will have an even more amazing customizing the web experience. Another major new feature in NICST 3 is the improved support for the Gopher and Gemini protocols. Gopher and Gemini are two early hypertext protocols that were once popular, but have since then been largely replaced by the worldwide web as we already know it. Not a huge change for most of us, but for the handful of us that still use Gemini and Gopher, this could mean a lot. NICST now includes built-in supports for both protocols, making it easier to access information that is only available on these older networks. In addition to these new major features, NICST 3 also includes a number of smaller improvements and bug fixes. Some of the highlights include a new prompt buffer fuzzy matching algorithm that offers more relevant results and new supports for the WebExtensions API, this is particularly important, which allows developers to create more powerful extensions for NICST. Developers also improved performance and stability and overall NICST 3 is a significant step forward for the keyboard-driving browser. Now that we're up to speed with the latest changes in the browser itself, let's dive into a world of keyboard-based browsers in general. This option works awesome for all of you VIM workflow enthusiasts and helping you to, you know, shave off that extra 0.1 second it takes to move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse. It's also fantastic for all of you keyboard fans out there in general. Of course, I must mention that this type of browser might not be everybody's cup of tea and the choice of the browser itself can be a huge difference. Speaking of competitors, Qt browser stands out as one of the closest browser to the VIM workflow. It's got everything from settings to style and even themes, all written in neat VIM-like configuration files. If you're already familiar with VIM, you'll find it super easy to understand and navigate. However, NICST on the other hand may not offer as many VIM features and that distinctive VIM feel especially when compared to Qt browser. So let's talk about a feature of NICST web browser that I think you will actually like if you like customizing and config files. Instead of using tabs like any other browser, NICST uses something called buffers. So what's cool about buffers is that each one is a completely separate entity and can have its own unique behavior and settings. It's like giving each buffer a personality. One thing that you will find in a buffer is something called modes. These modes can be stacked in layers of priority and they're like a set of special functions, hooks, keybindings and more that you can use to customize the buffer. As an example, there's a blocker mode for adblocking and a no script mode that blocks all JavaScript. It's all about tailoring your browser experience to exactly what you want. Every mode in our system has its own mode toggler. It's basically a command with the same name as the mode and it's super handy because it allows you to easily toggle between modes for the current buffer. Finally, we have the prompt buffer. It's actually a nifty little menu that pops up whenever a command asks for your input. So let's say that you want to set the URL command, use the set URL command. In order to navigate to that desired URL, you simply need to provide it as your input. But here's the cool part. The prompt buffer actually helps you by providing suggestions. As you type, the list of commands and suggestions automatically narrows down to much what you were entering. That's pretty handy, right? It also allows you to integrate the browser with a password manager like keypasspx and the password store. It automatically detects and autocompletes the password when needed, which is a pretty cool thing for a browser. Considering it could be done using just config files. But it does require you to put it a lot of time learning and then implementing the tutorial of integrating password managers and many other features into the browser, which I think is one of the cons you should consider. The learning curve and the stuff you should do to set up like the password manager is so much it's unfair for us to compare this to Firefox or even any other browser. Nor is it trying to be that. As a web browser, it also allows you to create your own themes and make it look however you want, where skills to code around this through documentation is your main challenge. Since this barrier is passed, you could literally change the appearance of the browser to make it look however you want. And here is something neat. Nix uses Lisp for configuration. That's a language that's totally different from the Vimlike browser, which has its own Vimrc like config files and uses the config syntax almost the same as the Vimrc file. So if you're looking into exploring something new and different when it comes to configs but the same workflow as Vim, then Nixt is a fantastic choice as well. Oh, and speaking of browsers with a Vimlike workflow, some of you might have heard of a Vimb. Vimb. Vimb. It's another great option for the keyboard browser gang. And I mean just from the name you can kind of tell it has a lot of common with Vim. More than Nix does. So if that's your thing, definitely give Vimba a try. By the way, I have no idea how it's pronounced. I hope it's Vimb, if not sorry. So how does Nixt work? How can this even work? So of course it is a browser that is designed to be used with the keyboard only, I think I said that. It does not have a GUI. This browser as you might expect has a bit more cons when compared to our daily browsers like Firefox, with a lot of respect to the community, work, bugs and features and many more. The browser can be slow at times. Nixt is not as fast as some other browsers, especially when loading complex websites. It can be difficult to find help. There is not a lot of documentation or support available yet for Nixt. And this can make it difficult to troubleshoot problems. It is not as secure as other browsers and Nixt has not been around for as long as other browsers and it has not been as thoughtly tested. This means that it may have some vulnerabilities, but I'm more worried obviously about bugs because if you test a browser for years and years, it's easier to find all of those. If you are considering using Nixt, be sure to wait the pros and cons carefully. It is a powerful browser with a lot of potential, but it is not without its flows. So the latest version is a significant step forward for the keyboard driven browser and the new features and improvements make it a more powerful and versatile tool for browsing web. If you are looking for a browser that is designed to be used with only the keyboard, then Nixt 3 can pronounce that is definitely definitely worth checking out.