Re: lynx-dev LYNX: reverse-search

[Chuck Martin]

On Mon, Mar 29, 1999 at 07:25:05PM -0800, David Combs wrote:
> 
> In VI or somewhere, and in lynx, doesn't "N" mean
> "search again" (in SAME direction as before).

In vi: No, it reverses the direction.  In lynx: Yes, but only because
in lynx, any upper case letter that hasn't been specifically defined
separately has the same functionality as the equivalent lower case letter
by default.

> So why can't a "bare" question-mark mean HELP,
> and a "?foo?" mean reverse search, and 
> "N" mean "another (fwd OR rev) search -- depending on
> whether was via ? or /".

I don't see how this would work.  For example, if I wanted to search for
the word "Doctor" in the current page, I would presumably press "?doctor?"
(since searches are presently case insensitive--using an uppercase D
would have the same effect in my example).  As soon as I pressed the ?,
I would be taken to the help page.  The result of pressing d at this
point depends on what is in my help page, but if there is a link on my
screen, I would now be downloading the file it pointed to.  Unless you're
suggesting that we change the behavior of ? to require a carriage return
(or enter key) following it to get to the help page, this wouldn't work,
and I think making such a change would be a bad idea.

Chuck