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lynx-dev indentation (was screen widths)


From: Philip Webb
Subject: lynx-dev indentation (was screen widths)
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 10:38:01 -0400 (EDT)

990421 Chuck Martin wrote: 
> <H2> text goes all the way to the first column
> and so does text preformatted with <PRE>.
> What you call margins is actually style.
> The reason there are two 3's to change is
> that the first one tells how far to indent the first line
> and the second one tells how far to indent the rest of the paragraph.
> There are similar numbers for many other HTML elements.
> I don't see any reason to have a configuration option
> that changes one (or two) of those.
> Should we make both of those numbers configurable,
> so those who prefer paragraphs to have the first line indented can do so?
> what about making indentation of <PRE> text or blockquotes configurable?
> how about how much to indent nested lists (I think having each nested list
> indented 5 spaces more than the next level up is excessive,
> but I don't think it should be a configuration option)?
 
your constructive analysis is very helpful: i am a bit better educated.
there are several points arising, in case anyone wants to pick them up:

(1) the Lynx indentation scheme is hidden in a source file
    & appears to be documented nowhere;
    surely, it should be in Users Guide: could CM fill that gap?

(2) when Lynx was first being created,
    the typical WWW document was generally simpler & largely text:
    the spread of frames & imagery came later,
    causing purely textual layout to be side-lined
    by the vast majority of document authors;
    this means that <H2> & <PRE> tend to be quite rare these days
    -- eg in typical Internet newspaper stories --
    & the first  3  columns are lost without anything useful in return;

(3) in the continuing absence of style-sheet support,
    Lynx in practice has to offer a default screen-layout style:
    how far are lynx-devers in fact satisfied with the current effect?
    should we consider changing indentation for nested lists (as above)
    or (my problem) removing the basic  3 column  indentation,
    which currently applies to everything other than <H2> & <PRE>
    before the further indentations for other tags?

(4) there is also the R-hand margin, where Lynx loses  6  columns:
    this is not part of the indentation layout,
    but a separate stylistic choice from long ago.

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