Re: LYNX-DEV Using Lynx woth web "forums"

[David Combs]

> From address@hidden Sun Mar 29 20:14:46 1998
> Date:         Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:36:36 -0500
> From: Jacob Poon <address@hidden>
> 
> On Fri, 27 Mar 1998, David Woolley wrote:
> 
> > > >
> > > >Apparently some buffer is overflowing and the charaacters are getting 
> > > >sent
> > > >to Lynx commands.
> > 
> > Based on a fifteen minute look at the code, Lynx 2.7.2 violates the
> > July draft of HTML 4.0.  What I think it is doing is converting textarea
> > into a series of text field internally and then re-assembling them when
> > it submits the form.  As a result it can't scroll vertically.  The
> > HTML 4.0 draft I have in hard copy says that neither the number of
> > rows nor columns should limit the amount of data entered.
> > 
> > The problem then arises for Lynx of:  how do you get out of the text area.
> > At the moment an excess CR or downarrow will do this, but if you make it
> > scrollable, you need another way out.
> 
> I would treat the text area as a link.  If I want to edit the content,
> just press enter will 'zoom in' to the text and allow me to edit
> internally (or externally, if possible).  To exit, just press ^G (or ^C,
> but not recommended) will return to the normal view. 
> 
> 
> 

Maybe do it the way we are already familiar with: when
a site has a mail-to and we click on it, I end up in
VI, plus a question "include original text" or something
which I usually answer "no", then I just use the standard
commands for VI: "i" to start entering stuff, "escape" to
finish, and ":x" to simultaneously save and exit (yes, rarely
documented, but it works), which saves it to a temp file
that gets mailed off.

My advice is to NOT do anything fancier, such as automatically
issuing the "i", because that will simply make us all remember
yet another special case.

I imagine I myself would not use this special edit-feature
for item-entry that often; usually the space is big enough,
so for those FEW times I need the full-editor facility, I would
prefer it to be as plain vanilla as possible, so I can use
(simply) whatever "favorite editor" I choose, in a 100% standard
way, with NOTHING else to remember.