LYNX-DEV options vs lynx.cfg

[Philip Webb]

970506 Laura Eaves wrote: 
> As far as I can tell, the only people who care where the cursor is placed
> are visually impaired users using software that tracks the cursor.  Yet the
> default is FALSE -- so these users either need to use -show_cursor on the
> command line or edit lynx.cfg or ask their ISP / sys admin to configure it
> for them (if they know about the option to begin with).
> If the user doesn't have shell access, there's no way to change this option.
> 
> And as long as I'm on the topic of default options, I think I complained once
> before about the color options.  I use -color with slang.
> This is also only configurable in lynx.cfg & the default colors are strange.
> (No one would use them, low vision or not.)  For one thing, it doesn't
> display properly.  (Try it.  The default for normal text is black on white
> background -- but spaces and blank lines still come out in black.)
> 
> Anyway, a user has to edit lynx.cfg in order to use the -color option.
> And of course, if a user doesn't have shell access, he/she can't specify
> a command line option or edit lynx.cfg. (Also, there are no comments
> in lynx.cfg describing what the integer values mean for the COLOR specs.)
--- snip --- 
> Are there other options in lynx.cfg that people think should be
> user-configurable?  As a general rule, I would think that options that
> don't affect system security (such as display options) should be in the
> options menu rather than lynx.cfg.

this comes up very regularly: these 2 cases seem quite valid.
also,  lynx.cfg  is very long for an ordinary user to check thro' & edit
every time s/he wants to compile a new version of Lynx.
also, users should be at the mercy of sysadmins no more than necessary.

how about redesigning the Options Page so that it includes
    (1) the most commonly user-varied options,
    (2) a special option "Goto the Extended Options Page(s)",
    where there would be (many) more less frequently chosen options,
but (3) everything which isn't security or otherwise some sysadmin diktat
is an Option & only security etc remains in  lynx.cfg ?
one reason i'm slow to grab & test development versions of Lynx is
that i have to plough thro'  lynx.cfg  each time for my own settings.

this would save a few queries to lynx-dev
& make it easier to handle choices about new features in future.

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