https://web.archive.org/web/20100502012619/http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~purslow/lhfb.html
----- Original Message ----- | From: "Philip Webb" <purs...@ca.inter.net> | To: "Thomas Dickey" <dic...@his.com> | Cc: "lynx-dev listserv" <lynx-dev@nongnu.org> | Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 2:17:28 PM | Subject: Re: [Lynx-dev] Broken link in help page | 230919 Thomas Dickey wrote: |> On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 08:19:01PM -0400, Philip Webb wrote: |>> 230918 Thomas Dickey wrote: |>>> On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 12:57:06PM +0200, Ali RAFIQ wrote: |>>>> I just want to inform you about a broken link in your help page : |>>>> <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~purslow/lhfb.html> — quick help |>>> thanks - I see it's been gone a while (Internet Archive has a copy) |>> I sent a response with a copy of the HTML file earlier today : |>> did you not see it ? |> no - I've seen no other mail from you this week, so far | | Here is the file again. CHASS closed down some time ago, | so the URLs below will need to be changed or removed : | | <!-- X-URL: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~purslow/lhfb.html --> | <!-- Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 03:45:42 GMT --> | <!-- Last-Modified: Thu, 18 May 2000 04:10:21 GMT --> | <BASE HREF="http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~purslow/lhfb.html";> | | <HTML> | <HEAD><TITLE>Lynx Help for Beginners</TITLE> | </HEAD> | | <BODY BGCOLOR="f0f0f0"> | | <H1>Copying:</H1> | | This document was created by Philip Webb as a service to Lynx users.<BR> | It may be copied -- with minor formatting changes -- , provided<BR> | no other changes are made & authorship is clearly acknowledged.<BR> | Any other reproduction constitutes breach of copyright. | <P> | Readers are encouraged to inform <A HREF="mailto:purs...@chass.utoronto.ca";> | the author</A><BR> of any apparent errors or omissions. | | <H1>Introduction:</H1> | | This outline is specially for people who are just starting to use Lynx | or have used it for some time without exploring its features very far. | It answers the sorts of questions everyone asks at first.<BR> | For a more systematic account of Lynx, the Internet & related matters,<BR> | explore the many links on the Main Help Page: to go there, enter `h' . | <P> | You should be aware that there are 3 levels of Lynx user: | <P> | <OL><LI><EM>Anonymous</EM>, who have free access to the Internet<BR> | without a personal password, typically via a library or freenet:<BR> | some Lynx features may not be available to them,<BR> | depending on the system manager; | <LI><EM>Shell accounts</EM>, which normally require a password,<BR> | but give users general access to a computer system like UNIX:<BR> | again, the system manager controls some features of Lynx;<BR> | a variation on this is people who use a pre-compiled binary<BR> | & are constrained by the choices of whoever made it; | <LI><EM>Self-compiled</EM>, ie people who compile their own Lynx<BR> | in their own PC or in their own directory under eg UNIX:<BR> | they have complete control over how Lynx is configured. | </OL> | If you find some features outlined below are not available & you fall | into the first 2 groups, you should consult your system manager<BR> | to find out whether their version of Lynx is limited by them;<BR> | if you fall into Group 3, you should check <CITE>userdefs.h</CITE> | & <CITE>lynx.cfg</CITE><BR> to see what you need to change. | You should also check settings<BR> | in the Options screen, which most users can change (enter `o'). | | <H1>Contents:</H1> | | <UL> | <LI><A HREF="#CP">Moving around the current document</A> | <LI><A HREF="#GT">Using the goto & jump -- `g j' -- commands</A> | <LI><A HREF="#ES">How to escape from things</A> | <LI><A HREF="#UI">Some useful information commands</A> | <LI><A HREF="#BF">The bookmark file</A> | <LI><A HREF="#OP">Options</A> | <LI><A HREF="#FS">Forms & security</A> | <LI><A HREF="#FI">Tables, frames, images, cookies, style sheets</A> | <LI><A HREF="#CS">Character sets</A> | <LI><A HREF="#GS">Grabbing stuff without being interactive</A> | <LI><A HREF="#HT">Creating a WWW page with Lynx</A> | <LI><A HREF="#BC">There's a bug or a crash!</A> | <LI><A HREF="#SL">Which systems does Lynx run on?</A> | <LI><A HREF="#VI">Lynx for the blind and visually impaired</A> | <LI><A HREF="#IC">Who's in charge of Lynx?</A> | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="CP">Moving around the current document:</A></H1> | <H2>Simple commands:</H2> | | <UL><LI>to goto the beginning/end of the document, enter `^a' or `^e' ; | <LI>to move up/down by 1 screen, enter `-' or `Space' ; | <LI>to move up/down by half-a-screen, enter `)' or `(' ; | <LI>to move up/down by 2 lines, enter `^p' or `^n' ; | <LI>no, you can't move the screen just 1 line at a time. | </UL> | | <H2>Numbered links:</H2> | | <UL><LI>You can number the links in each document:<BR> | enter `o' for Options, then `k' for Keypad Mode. | <LI>If links are numbered, `123' takes you straight to URL [123]:<BR> | ie you can get a document just by entering its link number; | <LI>`123g' simply moves the hilite to link [123]<BR> | without downloading that document; | <LI>`123p' takes you to the top of page 123 in the current document; | <LI>you can also add `+' & `-' to give relative movements:<BR> | eg `7p+' goes down 7 pages & `5-' follows the 5th link above. | </UL> | | <H2>Searching:</H2> | | <UL><LI>One way to skip around long documents is to search with `/' ; | <LI>enter `n' for the next occurrence of the same string; | <LI>you can recall previous strings with `UpArrow' or `DownArrow' | after you have entered `/' & then edit them:<BR> | for line-editor commands, see the Main Help Page. | <LI>No, you can't search backwards using Lynx,<BR> | but Lynx will search again from the beginning of the file<BR> | if there isn't an occurrence ahead of you. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="GT">Using the goto & jump -- `g j' -- commands:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>You can enter any URL following `g':<BR> | Lynx will supply `http://' if you omit it<BR> | & may guess if you omit part of the URL (eg `www.' or `.ca'). | <LI>You can recall previous URLs using `UpArrow' or `DownArrow'<BR> | & edit them (see Main Help Page for details of the line editor). | <LI>To access files on your own machine start with `file://localhost', | followed by the full path for the file. | <LI>You can use `g' to send e-mail by starting with `mailto:'<BR> | -- <EM>no</EM> `//' -- ; you can include the current document<BR> | in the e-mail & edit it as you wish. | <LI>You can goto the current directory on your machine by entering `.' | following `g': all subdirectories & files are listed as links,<BR> | as is the next-higher directory. | </UL> | <UL><LI>There is also the jump command `j', which allows you to call URLs<BR> | from a prepared list in your jumpfile; you need to define the file<BR> | in <EM>lynx.cfg</EM> & add whatever URLs you commonly consult. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="ES">How to escape from things:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>`q' exits Lynx, but prompts first; | <LI>`Q' exits without a prompt; `^d' is an emergency exit; | <LI>`^z' suspends Lynx, going to the original shell:<BR> | in UNIX, `fg' returns to Lynx; | <LI>`!' suspends Lynx, creating a new shell: `exit' returns; | <LI>`z' interrupts a mistaken or slow download. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="UI">Some useful information commands:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>`h' gets you the full range of on-line help files; | <LI>`k' gives a list of keystrokes with their functions; | <LI>`l' lists all the links in the current document. | <LI>`o' goes to the Options list, where you can change settings; | <LI>`V' lists <EM>all</EM> the documents you have visited in order; | <LI>`^h' lists <EM>just</EM> those documents you will return to<BR> | with a series of `LeftArrow' commands; | <LI>`=' gives details of the current document & link; | <LI>`g' followed by `lynxmessages:' recalls recent Lynx messages. | </UL> | | <UL><LI>The bottom line of the screen is controlled by an option:<BR> | you probably have it set to Novice, with 2 lines of help;<BR> | you can change it to show the URL of the current <EM>link</EM><BR> | by entering `o' & then changing to Advanced Mode. | </UL> | | <UL><LI> | If you forget what you defined in <EM>lynx.cfg</EM> or don't control it,<BR> | you can find out by entering `g' followed by the URL `lynxcfg:' ;<BR> | your binary's compile options are shown by `lynxcompileopts:' . | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="BF">The bookmark file:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>`a' adds the current document URL to your bookmark file; | <LI>`v' calls up the bookmark file with its links; | <LI>`r' is supposed to remove bookmarks, but can be cantankerous:<BR> | it is best to use an editor to remove the bookmark line directly; | <LI>NB <EM>don't</EM> add or alter bookmark-file lines,<BR> | except for simple changes of name or URL; | <LI>it's a good idea to keep a back-up copy of your bookmark file,<BR> | in case some inadvertent error renders it unusable. | <LI><A HREF="http://caunter.ca/README.options";>Stefan Caunter</A> | has a good account of the multi-bookmarks option. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="OP">Options:</A></H1> | | These are accessed via 'o': | a good account is at <A HREF="http://caunter.ca/README.options";>Stefan Caunter's | page</A> | | <H1><A NAME="FS">Forms & security:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>You can use your regular editor in a textarea<BR> | & there are various commands for extending a textarea:<BR> | see <EM>Users Guide</EM> for details (starting with 2-8-2). | <LI>If you want to enter a regular Lynx command in the middle of a form, | enter `^v', which will ask for the command: this also allows you | to exit the form by jumping to another part of the document; | </UL> | <UL><LI>You can access `https' sites using Lynx, | but you need <A HREF="http://www.cryptsoft.com/";>SSLeay</A><BR> | & must compile in <A HREF="http://www.moxienet.com/lynx/";>SSL patches</A>; | there are strict restrictions <BR> if you live in the USA | & looser rules apply if you live in Canada; | <LI>For more detailed help see <EM>README.ssl </EM> in the Lynx doc directory. | </UL> | <UL><LI>You can use Lynx with a proxy: see <EM>lynx.cfg</EM>. | </UL> | <H1><A NAME="FI">Tables, frames, images, cookies, style sheets:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI><EM>Table</EM> rendering has been improved: Lynx 2-8-3dev.14 tests<BR> | if tables are simple enough to allow column-formatting,<BR> | but is still constrained by being a 1-pass browser<BR> | & problems still arise if there are unexpected tags in the table. | Tom Zerucha's gawk program is a big help for UNIX users | <A HREF="http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Epurslow/lytable.html";> here</A>. | <LI><EM>Frames</EM> are fully accessible to Lynx, but are displayed | as separate documents, preceded by a document listing them as links: | <EM>don't</EM> be put off by warnings that "Your browser doesn't | understand frames: get Notstraight or Exploiter": | these should simply be ignored. | <LI><EM>Images</EM> can be downloaded using Lynx; you can also compile | Lynx <BR> to use a viewer like xv, if you have the necessary system access. | <LI><EM>Cookies</EM> are handled by Lynx:<BR> | for details see <EM>lynx.cfg</EM> | or <A HREF="http://caunter.ca/README.cookies";>Stefan Caunter's page</A>;<BR> | the cookie jar can be examined via '^k', which explains what to do with it. | <LI><EM>Style sheets</EM> control the appearance of Lynx:<BR> | the basic file is <EM>/usr/local/etc/lynx.lss</EM> (or a similar location);<BR> | when building Lynx, you can configure with <EM>lynx --with-lss=''</EM><BR> | or you can use an empty <EM>lynx.lss</EM> file; | colors can be manipulated via <EM>lynx.cfg</EM><BR> | & <EM>/usr/local/share/lynx_docs/samples/oldlynx</EM> can be used as well. | | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="CS">Character sets:</A></H1> | | Lynx 2-8 (or later) has good support for multilingual character sets:<P> | <UL><LI>to see 8-bit characters properly,<BR> | enter `o', goto the Display Character Set,<BR> | then fill in the one corresponding to the font<BR> | you <EM>really</EM> have installed for your terminal; | <LI>if you're not sure, try `7 bit approximation' as the safest. | <LI>You can tell the remote site which characters to use:<BR> | enter `o', then goto Preferred Document Character Set. | <LI>Some documents look broken because they do not specify<BR> | the character set properly: you can complain to the author,<BR> | but if you know what the character set should be,<BR> | enter `o', then choose Assumed Charset from the pop-up list. | </UL> | Getting character sets right is quite complex,<BR> | as there are so many variations of server/client/document,<BR> | so you may need to look in the Users' Guide -- `h' --<BR> | or if you have access to it look in <EM>lynx.cfg</EM>,<BR> | which has a long account of all the alternatives.<P> | | If you want to see the accents on French, German or Spanish words<BR> | e.g. in news stories, it's not too difficult with | <A HREF="http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/";>Kermit</A>,<BR> | which is free (tho' you are encouraged to buy the manual)<BR> | & boasts very powerful translation abilities;<BR> | you must have appropriate versions at both ends of the wire.<BR> | With Lynx character-set ISO-Latin-1 & `transparent' in C-Kermit<BR> | & the ordinary N American codepage 437 in MS-DOS,<BR> | add 2 lines to <EM>mskermit.ini</EM>: | <PRE> | | set display 8-bit | set transf char latin1 | | </PRE> | The former gives the correct accents within Lynx<BR> | & the latter allows downloading them from UNIX to your PC<BR> | after printing them to a file from Lynx. | | <H1><A NAME="GS">Grabbing stuff without being interactive:</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>You can use Lynx on the command line (with shell access):<BR> | eg `lynx http://lynx.browser.org/ >file.d1' (without quotes),<BR> | which will download that URL into that file; | <LI>there are a lot of switches you can use:<BR> | enter `lynx -help >file.d1' to copy the list into a file; | <LI>there's also a very useful utility called | <A HREF="ftp://gnjilux.cc.fer.hr/pub/unix/util/wget/";>wget</A>,<BR> | tho' it is not distributed or supported by Lynx volunteers; | <LI>another useful tool for automating tasks is | <A HREF="http://expect.nist.gov/";>expect</A>,<BR> | also independent of Lynx & its developers. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="HT">Creating a WWW page with Lynx:</A></H1> | | Lynx makes it easy to build & edit your own WWW documents:<P> | | <UL><LI>first, create a skeleton HTML document with an editor; | <LI>call up Lynx with the command `lynx yourfile.html',<BR> | where `yourfile.html' is the skeleton document,<BR> | or enter `g', then `file://localhost/path/to/yourfile.html'; | <LI>enter `e' & Lynx will present the source file for editing; | <LI>exit the editor & Lynx will show you the rendered page again. | </UL> | | You <EM>must</EM> have the editor specified in <EM>lynx.cfg</EM><BR> | & you <EM>must</EM> call up the document as a <EM>local file</EM>.<P> | | <H1><A NAME="BC">There's a bug or a crash!</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>Lynx is very well tested by real-life users, so bugs are rare. | <LI>If Lynx refuses to start, the problem may be that it can't find<BR> | the start-page for some reason: you can try using a local file<BR> | with the command `lynx file://localhost/FULL/PATH/TO/YOUR/FILE'<BR> | or simply `lynx .' (yes, that's a dot). | <LI>One common problem encountered by beginners is that the version | they are using is out-of-date: the Internet & other browsers are | continually developing & Lynx tries to keep up, so it is important | to use the latest Lynx, if you can: see <A HREF="#IC">Who's in charge?</A> | <LI>To find your version number, enter `=' . | </UL> | <UL> | <LI>Another common problem is that many sites have bad HTML<BR> | -- are badly written -- , sometimes <EM>very</EM> bad!<BR> | Lynx tries to do its best to interpret messy HTML<BR> | & you can try the `tagsoup' parser, which can be set with `^v'<BR> | or in the Options page under `HTML error recovery',<BR> | but beginners should probably just accept that some site owners<BR> | are less clever than they think & move on to another site. | <LI>One frequent type of bad HTML is badly formatted <EM>comments</EM>,<BR> | which can sometimes cause a whole screen or document to be blank: | you can change the way Lynx parses comments with " ` " or " ' ". | <LI>You can have a look at the source code for the document using `\', | a good way of finding what may be wrong if you understand HTML. | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="SL">Which systems does Lynx run on?</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>Lynx can be used on UNIX, VMS, Win32, NT, DOS 386,<BR> | OS/2, Mac, Amiga, OS390, BS2000 & Nextstep: however,<BR> | not all systems are equally supported by the volunteer developers; | <LI>for set-up on M$ Windows see | <A HREF="lynx_for_windows.html">Dale Landry</A>; | <LI>for very small computers there is also | <A HREF="http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/bobcat.htm";>Bobcat</A> | & <A HREF="http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/doslynx.htm";>DosLynx</A>,<BR> | which are not as well supported; | <LI>for more information, see under <A HREF="#IC">Who's in charge?</A> | </UL> | | <H1><A NAME="VI">Lynx for the blind and visually impaired:</A></H1> | | There is a <A HREF="http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/";>speech-friendly page</A> | in the Lynx on-line help.<P> | | Some other sources of information around Lynx and the Internet<BR> | for the blind and visually impaired:<P> | | <UL><LI><A HREF="mailto:l...@loc.gov";>Lloyd Rasmussen</A>; | <LI><A HREF="mailto:oedi...@leb.net";>Gregory Rosmaita</A> | and his <A HREF="http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/";>site</A>; | <LI><A HREF="mailto:lea...@intac.com";>Laura Eaves</A>; | <LI><A HREF="mailto:kf...@teleport.com";>Kelly Ford</A>. | </UL> | | All these people are volunteers, who may be too busy<BR> | to answer your inquiries quickly or at all.<P> | | <A HREF="http://www.loc.gov/nls/";> | US National Library Service for the Blind & Physically Handicapped</A><BR> | has some information about Internet resources.<P> | | <A HREF="http://www.empowermentzone.com/lynxtips.txt";> | Visually Impaired Computer Users Group</A><BR> | offers a lot of advice for using Lynx & related software.<P> | | There is a list-server | <A HREF="mailto:lists...@uafsysb.uark.edu";>blind-l</A>, | to which you can subscribe<BR> | by sending the single line `subscribe blind-l' (omit the quotes).<P> | | Feel free to ask questions from <A HREF="mailto:lynx-...@sig.net";>lynx-dev</A> | whenever you wish. | | <H1><A NAME="IC">Who's in charge of Lynx?</A></H1> | | <UL><LI>Lynx was created c 1994 at the University of Kansas<BR> | & is now distributed under the GPL.<BR> | <LI>Today -- February 2007 -- Lynx is maintained by Thomas Dickey. | <LI>For all information about Lynx & how to get the latest version, | goto <A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/";>lynx.isc.org</A> | & follow the various links from there. | </UL> | | <UL><LI>The developers communicate | via the <A HREF="mailto:lynx-dev@nongnu.org";>lynx-dev</A> listserver:<BR> | use that link if you want to get in touch with them,<BR> | making sure you give as much detail as you can<BR> | about your problem or suggestion; | <LI>you can <EM>subscribe</EM> to lynx-dev by sending the single-line message | `subscribe lynx-dev' to <A HREF="mailto:majord...@nongnu.org";>majordomo</A>. | <LI>you can also visit the | <A HREF="http://www.flora.org/lynx-dev/";>lynx-dev Archive</A>. | </UL> | | <HR WIDTH="50%"> | <HR><P> | <PRE></PRE> | | <P> | Maintained by <A HREF="mailto:purs...@chass.utoronto.ca";>Philip Webb</A><BR> | Last updated : 070214 | </BODY></HTML> | | -- | ========================,,============================================ | SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb | ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto | TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatcadotinterdotnet -- Thomas E. Dickey <dic...@invisible-island.net> https://invisible-island.net
