Re: LYNX-DEV lynx on www.microsoft.com

[Laura Eaves]

> Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 05:18:35 -0400
> From: address@hidden (Larry W. Virden, x2487)
>...
> > First case: If the content of an anchor is an img with alt="", why not
> > treat that as no alt at all?  (Print the [LINK] string.)  Since the img
> > is there, the link is obviously intended to be visible (even if the author
> > doesn't care about text-only browsers).
>
> Are you recommending that in all modes that [LINK] would be printed?  Or
> just when someone toggles into the 'make <img> a downloadable link' mode?
> The former would be, at least for this user, a bad change to make.  I
> don't _want_ to see thousands of [LINK] on screens where img's are used
> for bullets, rulers, etc.

I think there's some misunderstanding of what I'm saying.
First of all, you already see [INLINE] printed for all
the thousands of bullets and other graphics that are used on various pages.

The case I'm talking about is the case Fote mentioned in which
<img  alt=""> appears in an anchor.  This currently has the affect of making
the link invisible (except when link numbering is turned on, in which case
you still can't move the current link to this anchor as it has no
highlightable text).
In other words, the graphic is visible in graphic browsers running in graphics
mode, but invisible otherwise.  This is not (apparently) the
intention of the author -- and even if it is, lynx users would
still want to see this link.

I looked at the code in HTML.c that sets the default alt string for img.
It's quite harry, creating things like [INLINE], [LINK], [IMAGE], [ISMAP],
[USEMAP], or (OBJECT), depending on the context.  I'm not sure under what
conditions it creates a null string.  But if it is inside an anchor, and not
set to [ISMAP] or oneof the other defaults, I think it should always be set
to [LINK].

Comments?

> > Second case: Apparently these links are intended to be invisible.  (But it's
> > nice to see them anyway...:)  Is there a reason to leave them invisible?
> > How about a default string of [xxx] where xxx is the href string?
>
> PLEASE leave them invisible.

> From: Al Gilman <address@hidden>
> Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 14:46:12 -0400 (EDT)
>...
> How does this difference in preferences relate to the optional ability
> to hide [ISMAP] when all you want is to navigate or show it if
> you want to access every last HREF on the page?  I think that what
> Klaus did [in the beginning -- I don't think we want more than one
> switch] is very close to what is needed to meet your needs and Laura's
> with one configurable tool.
>
> Laura: for your next trick, you might want to look at the
> l)ist-links page.  I don't really know, but I suspect that if it
> listed all clickables (all places where the Lynx cursor might
> come to rest) on a page including form input fields, that that
> might be a summary presentation that the blind would find
> enhanced relative to the present l)ist page and downright handy.
> Or some related abstract format including line-before-clickable,
> line-containing-clickable, and line-after-clickable
> with a whitespace line or ... on a line between each of these
> out-takes.

First of all, the l)ist command doesn't display form input fields.
The only way to number (or go directly to) these is with my patch.

Also, I tried the l command on the microsoft page, and it does appear to
list the invisible links.
The only other way to know they're there is by turning on link numbering.
--le

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