Re: lynx-dev GNKSA review of Lynx 2.8

[Larry W. Virden, x2487]

Note that my remarks below will be based on Lyn xVersion 2.8.1dev17d:

    3a   Does not allow posting to multiple groups

I just ran a test and in fact I was able to specify multiple groups and
the msg appeared in multiple groups.

    4a   The user cannot at all times choose to change the subject

The subject appears in the text editing window and thus is able to be
editted at all times.


    4c   Does not allow setting Followup-To: poster

I was able to edit the news article header and add a Followup-To: poster
field.

    6a   Does not handle Followup-To: poster correctly

Agreed - it would be useful if upon seeing the above header, lynx
indicated that the author indicated a preference for follow ups to go
to the poster.  In fact, no indication that the header in question
was present is shown.

    10a  Cannot include quoted text from original

I had no problem with this - lynx asked me if I wanted text included and
when I said yes I got it.

    10b  Quoted material isn't clearly marked as such

The code was included prefixed by a > - it was pretty clear to me.

    10f  Fails to supply a proper preceding attribution line

Agreed.

    11a  Does not require a non-empty, user-specified subject

    11b  Will not refuse to post articles without subject

Actually, when _I_ tried to do this, I indeed got a message telling me
that articles without subjects were not permitted and the article was
not posted.

    11d  Will not let the user change the subject while editing

This was part of the text I was editing and I not only could, but did,
change the subject as a part of my test.

    12a  May not provide a syntactically correct From-address

True - does anyone know if lynx has anywhere in it a routine for
checking an input string to guarantee it is a syntactically correct
address?  Until we find a routine like this, it can't be patched into the
source.

    12b  Fails to refuse to post messages with syntactically incorrect From:

Sounds good - as soon as we are able to identify this situation then it seems
likely this feature could be added.

    16a  Does not warn when posting an empty article

When I tried to post a truely empty article, I got an error and it was
not posted.  However, if when lynx asked if I wanted to append my signature,
the article was no longer considered empty and it was posted.

    9a   Does not support mailing instead after following up

yes, after one has said one wants to post rather than mail then indeed
one has started down the slope and the only choice one has is to save off
the text, abort the post, then do a reply and read in the answer.

    9b   Does not support posting instead after replying

See above.

    9d   Mail message not preceded by notification when posted and mailed

As far as I can tell, lynx doesn't support both post and mail, so of course
the mail message isn't preceded by any string.  

    10c  Uses a non-standard quote prefix

Could you explain this one.  Your 10C says 'prefixes quoted material with
'>'/'> '.  Lynx uses '>'.  Seems like this oen should be a 'meets spec'.

    10e  Does not let the user indicate which part to followup to

What does this mean?

    14d  Does not support rewrapping quoted text nicely

Yes, thank goodness - changing someone else's article could be construed by
some as a violation of their copyright on their material.

However, since the user is placed in their own editor with the quoted text,
they are able to do any rewrapping they feel they wish to chance. 

    14e  Fails to check basic hygiene of output from external editor

This isn't clear enough to evaluate.

    15a  Does not use or support standard signature delimiter

Pardon me? In my tests, lynx used a line which matches this
regular expression "^-- $" - looks standard to me.  What do you consider
standard?

    16b  Does not refuse posting an empty article

Actually, in my test, I got both the warning (12b) and the article was not
posted (16b).  Seems like it passed to me.

    18   Does not let the user suppress unwanted messages automatically

Is this supposed to be a 'kill file' capability?  
-- 
Larry W. Virden                 INET: address@hidden
<URL:http://www.teraform.com/%7Elvirden/> <*> O- "We are all Kosh."
Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, nothing in this posting should 
be construed as representing my employer's opinions.