About Rhapsode

"Rhapsode" is an auditory web browser/voice assistant, aiming to show the great potential of a simpler, more private JavaScript-free Web.

It shows that without websites prescribing how to achieve their communication ends, the exact same Web can be presented over practically any medium. Mediums, like audio, that many find cool and many others (e.g. the blind) find vital.

By being willing to break Web-compatibility, Rhapsode is able to take it's privacy protections to new heights. No trackers can run on it by design.

Why does this site look so plain?

What matters is what Rhapsode sounds like, not what it looks like. Take a listen below!

Webdev for Rhapsode

Just write progressively-enhanced semantic HTML5, and you'll be fine.

Rhapsode probably won't understand the visual concepts described by your CSS, & it definitely won't run any of your JavaScript. You can write your own styles for Rhapsode (and possibly other screenreaders), just don't rely on the defaults staying as they are.

Components

• Rhapsode auditory web browser
• HURL Haskell URL resolver
• Haskell Stylist reusable CSS engine

Major 3rd Party

• eSpeak NG text-to-speech
• Voice2JSON speech-to-text
• network-uri URI parser
• base64-bytestring data: URI parser
• xml-conduit XML parser
• html-conduit HTML parser
• http-client-tls HTTP(S) client
• css-syntax CSS lexer
• text & bytestring Unicode
• unordered-containers key-value mappings

Standards support

• URLs
• HTTP(S), with content negotiation & caching
• Gemini
• file:
• data:
• XML
• (X)HTML5, nonstandard error handling
• XHTML2-style links
• XLinks
• CSS3 selectors, cascade, & inheritance
• CSS3 Speech Module
• SSML
• WAV

Planned

• FTP(S)
• (X)HTML5 forms

FreeDesktop.Org system integration

• mime-apps
• desktop-entry
• AppStream
• mime-info