LYNX-DEV Re: -color/-nocolor development confusion

[Hiram Lester, Jr.]

On Thu, 24 Jul 1997, Alex Lyons  AEA Technology Winfrith wrote:

> Sounds to me like whar's needed is a 3-state colour option:
>  OFF   - never use colour regardless of terminal type;
>  MAYBE - use color if the terminal type indicates that it is supported;
>  ON    - always try to use color regardless of terminal type.
> The default would be MAYBE, but could be changed by a saved setting in 
> .lynxrc,
> and finally could be changed to ON or OFF by the command line options.

This really wouldn't help either.  The problem stems from the fact that
Slang has a "default" color scheme which is ANSI compatible even if the
terminal description doesn't mention color.  Ncurses and other curses have
no such default scheme, and MUST have color mentioned in the terminal
description to provide color.

It would be sorta like if someone wanted you to do a root canal, and you
weren't a dentist.  If you were Slang, you'd have a book detailing a
procedure, and if they absolutely insisted, you could try what was in the
book whether it was appropriate or not.  If you were Ncurses or SysV
curses, you'd have no such book, and thus have no idea where to even
begin.  In this case, no amount of pestering/begging/etc on their part
will help.  (I know, weird example... ;) )

Basically the thing is that Slang can be told to try its default even if
the term description doesn't mention color (-color) or not to use color
even if the term description says to use color (-nocolor).  Ncurses and
gang can only be told to not use color even if the term description says
to use color (-nocolor).

I hope this makes it as clear as mud... :)

   +------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
   | Hiram W. Lester, Jr.               | E-Mail: address@hidden    |
   | Computer Science                   | Home page:                    |
   | Middle Tennessee State University  |   http://pobox.com/~hwlester/ |
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