Re: lynx-dev New <BR> collapsing patch

[Jason F. McBrayer]

>>>>> "NHE" == Nelson Henry Eric <address@hidden> writes:

>> i completely agree that the 2nd choice should be `collapse all' for
>> purists; `collapse none' should be 3rd (few, if anyone, wants
>> that); `collapse non-pairs' should be default to help the huddled
>> masses.

NHE> I also like to talk things out to the end, as long as we are talking
NHE> about Lynx.  We all love Lynx that much.  So I want to make clear
NHE> again that I think the "3rd" is a waste of code, just keeps adding
NHE> to creeping bloat.  What you call `collapse none' and `collapse non-
NHE> pairs' should be merged, IMHO, to give the most "easily viewed" or
NHE> "expected behavior" to the most people most of the time.  Believe me,
NHE> if I had the time, I'd work toward recoding the comment handling, too,
NHE> so that there were only "correct" and an acceptable (to most people
NHE> most of the time) merge of "historical/minimal".

I think I agree with you.  There are two rationales for "collapse
none":  it makes Lynx behave like tag-soup browsers in general (NS and
IE in particular), and it makes web-based bulletin boards that convert
returns in entered text into <br>'s in displayed text readable.  But,
"collapse non-pairs" also satisfies the latter reason, and the first
reason is not worth our consideration.  "Collase non-pairs" lets naive
authors who think tags _do_ things create _some_ vertical whitespace
with <br> without doing too much collateral damage.

So I agree that "collapse non-pairs" should replace "collapse none" as
the behavior for COLLAPSE_BR_TAGS:NO, and that the behavior of
COLLAPSE_BR_TAGS:YES should be restored to "collapse all".  I also
agree on the subject of comments; I don't think anyone depends on
historical Lynx comment behavior (do they?), and that only the
valid/minimal distinction (or something like it) is relevant today.

As for defaults: I have both the comment setting and the br setting in
mylynx.cfg to the valid choices.  But the current default for comments
is MINIMAL.  It's worth considering whether we should do the same for
br or whether we should strive for valid behavior.  We certainly do
get too many complaints about valid br handling today.

-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jason F. McBrayer              address@hidden |
| The scalloped tatters of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill   |   
| forever.                    R.W. Chambers _The King in Yellow_ |