2024-08-04
Searching for images
One of the annoying things a javascriptless internetist might come across is the seeming inability to look for images.
Following are several methods of looking for and acquiring SOME IMAGE. I provide a direct url to the search query, so that it may be started from the console. This example will start the links2 browser in graphical mode and search for SOME IMAGE on librey.org:
$ links -g https://librey.org/search.php?q=SOME+IMAGE&p=0&t=1
Keep in mind that in most examples here, the domain part of the urls will be different based on the instance you choose. But the ones I have chosen here will work fine.
The dirty
A fairly new [returning] feature of google search is the ability to look for images even without javascript. Point your browser to images.google.com and make a search.
The barest possible url to use from a command line is the following where `SOME IMAGE' is the search query:
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&q=SOME+IMAGE
This method does not imediately reveal direct urls to images and all you get are resized, fairly small thumbnails that you could directly work with. In the case of links2, select the [IMG] option and press `i'. In graphical links you can also right click the image.
Either way, to get a full resolution of the found image, you have to open the actual url, go through a google tracking minefield and hope that the website will work without js and reveal the full image file.
The keen
librey
A much better choice is to use the librey search engine, of which many public instances are freely available. See farside.link for a list of all known public instances.
The regular websearch has been been rate-limited or down right broken on most of these instances, but the other niche options like images or torrents work fine. Interactively you would make a search and then click on the `images' option.
As opposed to the previous google method, librey lists the full-sized images inside the search results. Better yet, all the images are actually proxied behind the librey instance, so the server where the image is hosted doesn't even know you are viewing or downloading it.
The direct url to making a search is the following:
https://librey.org/search.php?q=SOME+IMAGE&p=0&t=1
searxng
Similarly you can make use of the searxng search engine and its public instances. However, searxng does not proxy the images for you. Its instances can be also found on farside.link.
https://searxng.cz/search?q=SOME%20IMAGE&language=auto&time_range=&safesearch=0&categories=images
the dedicated
binternet
One of the fanciest places to find images on various topics is pinterest, which is of course completely off limits to anyone who doesn't sail with the modern browsers. There is however a project called binternet, which is a simple front-end for pinterest searches and works in any browser. However the project hasn't been updated for a while and most of the listed instances on its github page are gone. Some still do work.
Same like librey or searxng, full resolution images will be listed in the search results. In this case, also proxied behind the binternet instance.
Here the url syntax is:
https://binternet.ducks.party/search.php?q=SOME+IMAGE
bonus
You can also use librey or searxng to search pinterest in a similar fashion simply by defining `site:pinterest.com' in your search query.
Visualize.