lynx-dev Thinking of a Possible Javascript to html Converter

[Martin McCormick]

        The consensus during many previous discussions is that
javascript is so foreign to lynx that building in a JS processor
would not be practical.

        As one who is basically lazy and does not like to
reinvent any more wheels than necessary, I am asking the
following question:

        Would it be possible to cause lynx to get a source page,
send that page to this magic JS processor which turns it in to
something made of proper html and feeds it back to lynx so the
end user sees a page that he or she can use within certain
limits, of course?

        I think that with imagination, javascript that is
supposed to work in the text world should be able to be hammered
in to ASCII text formatted as html so we can at least navigate
sites that have javascript in their basic navigation.

        I want to work on the problem, but I would like to dive
right in to the command processing part which is the heart of the
whole problem without having to build any more infrastructure
than necessary.

        I think we will have to be very pragmatic about what we
do and be glad if we can get readable absolute links that
actually work.

        This seems to be the biggest headache today on many
sites.  In other words, navigation is so broken that we can't get
to the material we want due to there appearing to be no links.

        Of course, there are also problems about filling out
forms and user input in general, but we will have to sleigh this
dragon one piece at a time.

        Frankly, javascript looks interesting, sort of like
reading a Basic program.  It looks like we should be able to come
up with libraries of routines that mimic the functions in
Netscape or Internet explorer enough to get by, sort of a form of
spooffing.  I don't care a flip if the original message was
formatted in Times Roman or Old English Script.  As long as our
message shows up in the terminal, the job is done.

        The only other thing I would like to find is some kind of
listing of javascript commands and what they do so that I can
avoid painting myself in to a corner so to speak.

        This can be a fun project and I will be more than glad
to share the fruits with others if I get that far because knowing
that I had even partly beaten the JS monster would be quite a
payment in itself.

        I have been in dialog with a representative of a company
whose javascript-infested web site may actually be 90% accessible
to persons using screen readers if JS wasn't used in navigation.
As it is, the site can be used by persons running Windows and
using the most expensive screen reader on the market.  I don't
know if they will end up doing anything, but I have a few doubts.
Been down this road before.  Even if this site gets fixed, there
are thousands more that never will be, but then I am preaching to
the choir.

        Any ideas about resources are greatly appreciated.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications Group

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