Re: lynx-dev having problems with forms-based options

[Rick Lewis]

Bela and All, 
First, let me briefly clarify what I was trying to say. 
I find some resistance to forms among neewbies and net veterans alike, 
some (but not all) of whom are blind. 
Secondly, Bela, you make a good point about whether the Web, in general, 
can be used satisfactorily without learning forms at some point. 
The answer, increasingly, is: no, but it wasn't always. 
Web designers now use forms much of the time when a simple link would do 
nicely. 
I started using the web in 1995, and then, I only occasionally 
saw a form. So, much has changed. 
In my comments, I'm really referring to two groups. One is the group 
of newbies who barely know what the Web looks like. At least to my 
thinking, if you compare using lynx to swimming, asking these people to 
grasp the forms concept right away is like asking folks to learn to 
swim before they've adjusted their swimsuit for comfort. 

These are just thoughts, though. Maybe the use of forms would be less 
intimidating if the user just plunged right into them. 

The problem of resistance to forms among some people (and again, I 
repeat, not just by any means limited to blind people) 
is more a resistance to the untried than any failure on the 
part of lynx developers. 
If there is a way that lynx can be easier to use with forms, I honestly 
don't know it, since I don't find it a problem. 
The option of numbering links and form fields was the next logical step 
beyond the numbering of links, and it's made the trickiest forms more
intuitive. 
One problem I've seen among sighted people is that no matter how
consistent lynx's behavior is, they just don't always get the idea that 
looking at the bottom of the screen can give clues to how a particular 
field should be handled. 

If we do go to the forms menu as the main and only options menu at some 
point, probably one item should be made clearer: 
that not all fields need be filled out. 

Finally, I'm not convinced that the -blind switch, no matter how 
well-intentioned, is that good of an idea. Needs and individuals vary
widely. 
Using Braille, for example, show_cursor is less important to me than it 
would be using speech alone. I like the feature and always have it 
enabled now, but I used lynx quite well before it was changeable on the
options menu. 
--Rick