lynx-dev TEXTAREA/ctrl-G (was: your 2 weeks)

[Heather Stern]

I ate the fortune cookie first, then read what address@hidden> wrote:
> > > (5) calling up an editor for TEXTAREA : see Archive 980424 :
> > >     this is more controversial due to security,
> > >     but could be subject to the same controls as for anonymous users.
> > ...and appears to still be undergoing severe discussion, highlights include
> > argument over what to use as a quit-key due to cross-platform concerns.  My
> > vote, start with something probably ok, but make some sort of entry in 
> > lynx.cfg for LEAVE_INTERNAL_EDITOR_KEY.
> 
> What's wrong with ^G, btw, since that's already the quit-key for aborting
> other activities, so why not for quitting textareas?

I think ctrl-G would work okay, the main use I know for it is to make beepy
noises with 'fortune'.  

Emacs fans who might complain it's in use only get a certain amount of leeway
to whine with in my book... because their editor has more features than they
could possibly have keystrokes for, and is far more configurable than we
would really want to bloat lynx with.

I don't know any MSwin apps that depend on it;  its 'standard' behavior in DOS 
is also to make beepy noises.

> > I'm not sure it qualifies as small, except inasmuch as we already have an
> > internal editor for crippled/anonymous mail.
> 
> If there's already an internal editor, why isn't that used for textareas?
> (or have I missed a great swathe of discussions?)
 
Apparently the RFC calls for "scrollable" and "length of content should not
be limited".  The builtin is neither - it has a fixed amount it can handle
(if I am reading correctly into what I saw scroll by).

I think the best effort would be:
        * to be able to receive external editor's content, as the mailer
          does, if allowed to.
        * to use the builtin as we've got it, if external editors are not.

At this point we could ship, even though we aren't "up to RFC", we would be
better than the present "bunch of lines" style.

(BTW: My present workaround for bunch-of-lines style is to not line wrap 
      until I absolutely must.  Lynx has a very long line length on those
      lines it presents, well past what I usually need.  Since these are
      usually guestbooks and web forums, the result is going back to HTML
      and would "lose" its line wraps again anyway.)

        * to improve the builtin thereafter;  this would improve both the
          crippled mailer and the crippled formfill at one stroke.

Improvements to the builtin might be:
        * key configurability (admins might prefer not, compile time to
          lock them in?)
        * scrolling sufficient to satisfy RFC
        * deal with the length issue (might also want compile time option
          to lock)

Hope that's helpful!

  . | .   Heather Stern                  |         address@hidden
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