Re: LYNX-DEV question about [INLINE]

[David Woolley]

Laura Eaves wrote:

> On a lot of web pages I've noticed statements like
>    This page accessed [INLINE] times since (some date)
> I'm not familiar with html or lynx internals,
> and don't know what is behind the [INLINE]

It's a script which generates a graphic.

> but it seems as though it would be a command or script that would
> calculate and print a number.  This doesn't sound like it would be too
> complicated -- not like displaying a graphic or playing music...

The script is run on the server, and it does involve displaying a
graphic.  In fact, except for the fact that is is coded as an image in
the HTML, which is why Lynx won't try and access it, it is impossible to
know what format it is in until it is fetched.

Generally these features are either there for vanity, or because the
author is using a cheap web server option and doesn't have access to the
access logs.  In both cases they are inefficient uses of the server,
because they can't be cached near the browser and because they involve
running a program rather than just copying a file.

> Is there a reason why lynx doesn't handle this?
> (Excuse me if this is a dumb question.)

Because it doesn't know that the counter isn't any other image and because
it couldn't display the counter anyway, even if it got it back.

Incidentally, it is bad HTML to use IMG without providing some text 
for the benefit of browsers which can't display images or have been told
not to.
;
; To UNSUBSCRIBE:  Send a mail message to address@hidden
;                  with "unsubscribe lynx-dev" (without the
;                  quotation marks) on a line by itself.
;