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

[Heather Stern]

I ate the fortune cookie first, then read what Jacob Poon wrote:
> 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.  

This would be okay, if it would allow more "lines" than the number asked for;
the question everyone is fighting over, seems to be how to do this without
locking the user into the TEXTAREA forever.

>As a result it can't scroll vertically.  
I disagree with this being why it can't produce a user-viable result.
Long HTML pages don't scroll, they get repainted.

>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. 

This is consistent with the way dBase III and dBase VI handled their memo
fields.  ctrl-home to enter the memo field (launched your favorite text 
editor, the built-in by default) and exit said editor to save.  

If Lynx could spawn a seperate editor for TEXTAREA, similar to the way one 
is spawned for mailto: URLs, I think the result would be fairly intuitive.  
It also will save a lot of space onscreen in these web forums :)

Heather Stern  . | .  starshine.org * Starshine Technical Services
  star at:   --->*<---    lasfs.org * Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society
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