Re: lynx-dev TEXTAREA (was Re: LYNX-DEV Using Lynx woth web "forums")

[David Hardy]

On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Jacob Poon <address@hidden> wrote:

> On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Howard Kaikow wrote:
> 
> > Any escape character cannot be a valid graphic.
> > 
> > \ is often used when reporting problems or identifying paths for PC based
> > software.
> > 
> 
> Of course it is not a valid graphic.  But my point is, using a control key
> to exit TEXTAREA will be much less obstructive since most people won't put
> raw control characters in text area, so there is a little reason to see
> them in text area.  Because raw control keys aren't supposed to be used
> literally, it will be a better candidate.  Backslash, however, may get
> used literally for describing DOS paths, and more prone to be mistyped
> than a control key sequence (1 vs 2-key combinations).  Best for all, you
> don't have to know C(++) to escape text area. [no jokes]

I used the \ as an example of an escape character as Lynx is written in C so it
seemed a good idea at the time to use that as an illustration. The key phrase
I used was 'For example':

>> function, preferably one that's not commonly used in input into a text
>> area. For example, if \ were the special character then \ followed by
         ^^^^^^^^^^^
>> anything other than another \ could mean 'do the associated function'

I've no objection to any particular character being used, control or otherwise,
but my suggestion was to allow a method of introducing the escape character
itself into the text area in case it was needed.

David

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