Re: lynx-dev LYNX: "hidden links": make them UNhidden:

[Klaus Weide]

On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, David Combs wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 26, 1999 at 06:07:55PM -0700, Doug Kaufman wrote:
> > On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, David Combs wrote:
> > 
> > > Try this site:
> > >   5. [6]America's Doctor
> > >      http://www.americasdoctor.com/home.cfm?loc=library

That URL doesn't produce for me the page you quoted from.

> > > ...  
> > > says (via lynx) something about all links being "hidden",
> > > and to use L to see them.
> > > ... 
> > > But there is no way to see what "topic" they go to.
> > > 
> > > Would be MUCH nicer if these "hidden links" (whatever they
> > > are!) were shown AT the place they occur, in the body, so
> > > we can click on the appropriate one FOR the "topic" they 
> > > list.

See the

            Help on the Follow link (or page) number feature

page, which should be keystrokes/follow_help.html[.gz] under
the installed lynx_help directory.

> > If you are at the same type of page that I see there, just type "*"
> > or go to your options form and change "show images" to "as links".
> > You will need to be in advanced mode to tell which images are really
> > links.
> 
> Nice trick.  Thanks much!
> 
> Still not "perfect"; 

The -hiddenlinks option (see pointer above) isn't "perfect" either, but
you might prefer it.

> I am in advanced mode, but I cannot "tell"
> a true gif from a link.  

But your next sentence shows that, indeed, you CAN tell!

> In the enclosed below, the left column is a link (as you can see
>  from what [20] is down at the bottom "mode line" of lynx),
> and the one on the right is a gif (at least lynx thinks so,
> asks me do d(ownload) or c(ancel) (or whatever it says).
> 
> Here it is:
> 
 ..... 
>      [10][articles.gif]-[11][articles.gif]  Allergic Conjunctivitis
>      [12][articles.gif]-[13][articles.gif]  Allergic Rhinitis
>      [14][articles.gif]-[15][articles.gif]  Allergic Shock (Anaphylaxis)
 .....
>  
> http://www.americasdoctor.com/library_main.cfm?article=yes&id=21338&CATID=3&sessionid=52251906&sparms=WEB%2C864240%2C10804%2Cny

That URL doesn't produce for me the page you quoted from.

> Note that this is the SECOND menu of these things: when
> you click on an item in the MAIN menu of subjects, (or maybe
> you say search, I forget right now), you end up in this
> SECOND menu, which SEEMS to be PART of the main one,
> but it is DIFFERENT, in that only HERE is the left "gif" a 
> link to the actual ARTICLE.

No idea what you mean here, and without an exact URL I'm not going to
try.

> Is there anything other than [articles.gif] that LYNX could show
> there?  Not very imformative!

You can turn "verbose images" off.  In my opinion, OFF should be the
default for this feature, but apparently it isn't.

It is the VERBOSE_IMAGES feature that puts those strings
([articles.gif]) there, rather than the "traditional" [LINK] and
[IMAGE] etc.  Maybe the person(s) who wrote the VERBOSE_IMAGES code
can come up with a better strategy.

But before you complain too much that it is "not very informative",
remember: the links are "hidden", and it is "Americas Doctor" who hid
them, lynx is just giving you ways to "unhide" them and make them
accessible anyway.  (For all a program can know, this is against the
explicit wishes of "Americas Doctor" as expressed in the HTML.)


    Klaus