Deliver web by SMS

Deliver web by SMS [∞]

This is a creative solution to provide web content in regions with limited internet connectivity. Below is a high-level design of your system, considering simplicity, scalability, and functionality.

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System Design Overview

1. User Interaction

• Input: Users send an SMS containing a request (e.g., a URL or query) to a specific phone number.
• Output: The user receives an SMS with the requested web content in a reduced, SMS-friendly format.

2. Backend Workflow

• SMS Gateway:
  • Receives the SMS request from the user.
  • Forwards the message to your web server via a secure API or webhook.
• Web Server:
  • Processes the request to fetch the desired web page.
  • Strips the HTML overhead, leaving only essential content (e.g., text, simplified formatting, and URLs as plain text).
  • Returns the simplified content to the SMS gateway.
• SMS Gateway:
  • Sends the simplified content back to the user's phone.

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Key Components

1. SMS Gateway

• Description: Acts as a bridge between users and your web server.
• Options: Use services like Twilio, Vonage, or local SMS gateway providers.
• Features:
  • Handle incoming SMS requests.
  • Relay the request to your backend web server.
  • Send responses from the web server back to the user.

2. Web Server

• Tech Stack:
  • Use a lightweight framework (e.g., Flask, FastAPI, or Node.js) for efficient processing.
• Tasks:
  1. Request Processing:
     • Parse the SMS to extract the URL or query.
  2. Content Retrieval:
     • Fetch the webpage using an HTTP client (e.g., Python’s requests or Node.js’s axios).
  3. HTML Reduction:
     • Use an HTML parser (e.g., BeautifulSoup in Python) to strip unnecessary tags (e.g., <script>, <style>).
     • Extract essential elements such as:
       • Plain text content (<p>, <h1>, <h2>, etc.)
       • Plain links (<a> as text: [URL]).
  4. SMS Formatting:
     • Truncate content to fit SMS length limits (160 characters per SMS).
     • For long content, split into multiple SMS messages.
• Output: Relay the simplified content back to the SMS gateway.

3. Database (Optional)

• Purpose: Cache frequently requested pages to reduce load and latency.
• Implementation: Use lightweight storage (e.g., SQLite, Redis).

4. SMS Content Optimization

• Use plain text.
• Strip redundant information (e.g., images, styles, and scripts).
• Provide essential navigation or summary details (e.g., “Reply with 1 for more details about [Topic]”).

5. Security

• Sanitize URLs to prevent malicious input.
• Implement rate-limiting to prevent abuse.
• Encrypt data between the SMS gateway and your web server.

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Example Workflow

1. User Request: Sends URL: example.com via SMS.
2. SMS Gateway:
   • Receives the SMS.
   • Forwards example.com to the web server.
3. Web Server:
   • Fetches example.com.
   • Extracts relevant text and links.
   • Formats it into SMS-friendly chunks:
     • SMS 1: Example.com - Title: Learn Coding. Intro: Free courses. More: [URL].
     • SMS 2: Details: Visit: example.com/details or reply 1 for summary.
   • Returns content to the SMS gateway.
4. SMS Gateway: Sends SMS back to the user.

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Implementation Challenges

1. SMS Length Limitation:
   • SMS length is limited to 160 characters. Use concatenated SMS for longer messages.
2. Content Complexity:
   • Not all web pages are easily simplified. Prioritize extracting key information (text, links).
3. Cost:
   • Outbound SMS costs can escalate. Consider funding models or sponsorships.

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Would you like assistance with a prototype or any specific part of this design?