It was the first Internet tool really based on the client-server model. Using a Gopher client, the user connects to different servers, each providing information in a browsable menu tree. Often when an item is selected, the server passes users on to another server which stores the information - without users needing to know that server's address. The first server screen which comes up is usually the home Gopher server at the University of Minnesota. From there, you can browse through the hierarchy to locate items of interest.
Gopher clients can also go directly to a specific site, such as gopher.hk.super.net.
Those with Unix accounts can type gopher to go to the home server, and gopher gopher.hk.super.net to go to the SuperNet gopher server. More graphical clients are also available for most computers, and can be found at boombox.micro. The TurboGopher program for the Macintosh is available on the Library Lab Server. You can also access gopher server from any World-Wide Web client. For example, a keyword search for Hong Kong turned up a server with the full text of the Basic Law.