Re: Lynx Viewer

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article habanero@delphi.com writes...

>Jeff Blakeney <CUTjefbla@bconnex.net> writes:
>
>>The web consists of "pages", like in a book.  Which would you prefer
>>to read, a book that has lots of full-colour photos and little
>>information or a book that gives you lots of information without lots
>>of pictures getting in the way?  I'd rather read a book or web page
>>that tells me how to sail a sailboat rather than look at a bunch of
>>pictures of sailboats.
>
>Wow, talk about nerdspeak!!  I've learned sailing from a book and the 
>pictures were just as important as the text, in fact more so, as a 
>description of techniques would have thouroughly confused me had I not 
>seen the pictures of what they were trying to describe.
>
>To each his own, I guess, I still prefer books with pictures. ;o)

    Something that has slipped by in this thread, regardless of whether
you like fancy graphics or not, are that the vast majority of web pages
out there simply REFUSE to work under Lynx. I can't tell you how often
I've seen the message "This browser does not support frames" and tells
you it requires Netscape or Explorer to go on. On certain pages, you
may manage to get through with Lynx, but then have to blindly navigate
a bunch of gibberish or unlabeled links in hopes of getting to the text
information. A true graphical web browser is not so much a preference
anymore, but a *necessity* if you want to access most pages out there.

    Even with Lynx, an 8-bit Apple II has a fair bit of limitations
that make it even more difficult browsing pages. Take for example the
fact you don't have true cursor keys, so you always must remember to
hold down the Solid-Apple (Option) key when pressing an arrow key.
Then there is the issue of text mode not supporting bold, blink or
underline (or any color whatsoever) making it hard to see just where
you're going (yes, I know about "-show_cursor" and playing with the
display attributes in ProTERM, but that is a pain and only half a
solution). With an Apple IIgs you have true cursor keys and the option
of running ANSITerm, Spectrum (with Second Sight) or something like
Spectrum Internet Suite to make Lynx more usable, but as I mentioned
above, Lynx itself is no longer suitable for accessing the vast
majority of pages out there. Your not much better off in otherwords.

    I've personally given up on using Lynx and now use Netscape 4.0x
running on my PC to view and access pages. Not only do I now take
comfort in the fact I can access all pages out there, I can see them
as they were _meant_ to be seen. :) I'll admit there can be a lot of
unnecessary graphical fluff and animations, but there is also lots
of useful graphical information too. People sticking to Lynx are
missing out on a lot--I didn't even realize that until I switched
over to a graphical browser and saw for myself. Even if you want
the graphics filtered out, you can always shut that feature off.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca