Re: lynx-dev Tables in Lynx

[Klaus Weide]

On Tue, 15 Jun 1999, Ami Fischman wrote:

> > All the more reason for trying to use "the proxy, download, or external
> > options already available", if you feel that way.
> > I am still bewildered that not more people are trying the scripts
> > in the TABLES section in
> >    Linkname: Patches and plugins for Lynx
> >         URL: http://www.crl.com/%7Esubir/lynx/patches.html
> > This indicates to me that there isn't THAT much SERIOUS demand for table
> > support.
> 
> I don't think that's a logical conclusion.  

Maybe not strictly logical... it's the impression I got.

> At last check, that section
> contained only options that would format a table, but taking out the links.

So you have checked it out; please share more of your experiences.
(I think I have only tried one of the scripts, quite a while ago; but
I'm not one of those asking for better table support.)

I thought there must be at least one script somewhere that transforms
HTML -> HTML (not HTML -> formatted text).  If not, it may be much
easier to write than building the formatting into lynx.  More discussion
of the available external scripts could encourage someone to do just that.

> At least for me, the main reason to wish for table support in lynx is the
> multitude of sites that use tables to format their web pages for navigation
> purposes.  A table that contains the text but not the links is completely
> useless to me in this capacity...

I think someone recently wrote that lack of better formatting for *simple*
tables was the most frustrating.  I tend to agree with that.

If tables that really contain just tabular data - not tables abused for
layout - can be displayed in tabular form, that's better than nothing.
All-or-nothing is not a productive approach here, imo.  More complicated
tables will be difficult, whether outside of lynx or within lynx.

   Klaus