Re: LYNX-DEV Hotwired interview questions

[Hamish MacEwan]

Once, Rob Partington wrote:

> In this era of browser wars and intense, web-based multimedia, what's your
> motivation to continue a text-only browser?

This list of reasons to USE lynx has run before, but I think the fact
that it is very USEFUL is a reason to continue the development.

(1) it allows me to stay in an all-text environment, which means my CPU is
        doing only important things for me and others;  

(2) it has a brilliantly simple editing/viewing switch, which is
        infinitely more efficient than Netscape's 3.0 whatever; 

(3) it is solid on ftp transfers;

(4) it has a much better interface for using mailto: links, spawning a
        *real* editor;

(5) it is much easier on the eyes, as is "character mode" operation
        generally;

(6) it crashes so infrequently that I can say it really never crashes
        (with non-browsers the question is 'okay when will it crash 
        next?';

(7) it skips graphics, which save bandwidth, CPU, and time (although
        other browsers can turn graphics off);

(8) it appeals to my sense of beauty;

(9) it can look at any kind of file including directory files, which
        makes it a part-time file maintenance tool;

(10) no mouse is required, which is much safer ergonomically;

(11) configuration changes are easier to make;

(12) it sort of tells me who matters on the Internet - if I can't 
        see their site they must be ignorant jerks ;)

(13) it can manage useful web features like forms and CGI stuff;

(14) it is much more firmly grounded in a standards-based community,
        which is an inherently superior stance than what NS and MS
        are doing;

(15) it is simply way cool.


(16) I do CGI programming for Web sites, and Lynx is a godsend
        for debugging, thanks to the HEAD command (usually bound to
        ']').  It displays the result of an HTTP HEAD request, and is
        great for checking what headers a script is generating.  NS and
        IE don't have any way to do this, as far as I know.

(17) For the same development-related reason, Lynx's stricter
        HTML parsing is useful (though not a substitute for an HTML
        validator).

(18) Lynx uses less memory (unless you view really large
        documents).
        
(19) From unix, the command line or cron, Lynx can do things all
        on it's own, testing and checking or getting things 
        off-peak.


Hamish.  

PS. Ob-suggestion: Lynx doesn't like host names of the form:

        0800123456.0800.co.nz

presumably, because of the "dotted-Quad" appearance it tries to 
use this as an IP address?

-- 

    Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Netscapisms 
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