Re: lynx-dev LYNX: "\"-html-screen truncates

[Philip Webb]

980731 Doug Kaufman wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Jul 1998 address@hidden wrote:
>> 980731 DK wrote:
>>> Right now, you can see the source wrapped.
>>> It is there, just off the screen with no way to scroll right.
>>> Just "print" to less. You can then see the full source ...
>> But why the heck should you have to do this?
>> Isn't HTML source "white space ignoring"?
>> So if you simply wrap the lines (not at word breaks necessarily),
>> you're not giving an *incorrect* view in any way.
> The point is that lynx is not a text file viewer.

oh dear, i've heard that somewhere before (smile) ...
when presenting SOURCE to the user, Lynx HAS to be a file viewer;
it can't be a renderer: it's been told explicitly to show source asis.

> Html source is frequently wider than the screen,
> but lynx has no code to scroll left or right.

no, it hasn't, but that's no reason it can't be added;
there IS a valid question, of course, whether that would be difficult.

> Less and most are designed as text file readers.

but you have to compile them into your Print screen
& it takes time to fire them up & you have to switch mentally to them.

> If we try to put in code for this, it has to be maintained.

again, this is a valid question to raise,
but i don't see why it should in fact be a problem:
it's something quite simple, which should just stay there.

> I believe most users would want "\" to give an exact picture
> of what the source actually is; otherwise problems might be obscured
> by rendering the source into a file that fits on the screen.
 
really, the problems are there now,
when people look at the source version without realising it's chopped:
most users just want a quick look at the source
to see if there's bad HTML etc causing problems for them.
if the source is simply split at column 79 (wherever),
it remains just as useable as HTML as was the  255 col  version,
so if you want to download it to test or reproduce somewhere,
there's no problem.

the problem, as always, is that someone has to do the programming ...

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