Re: [Lynx-dev] editors and spell checking?

[Tim Chase]

Replying inline

On 2024-04-02 15:33, Karen Lewellen wrote:
> I am helping someone resolve an issue, they have access to lynx, but the
> editor field is blank.
> They are using Ubuntu.

If they're already comfortable with a preferred editor, you can
tell Lynx to use that on the command-line with the "-editor" option:

  $ lynx -editor=/usr/bin/nano http://example.com

They might even have configured their system to use "sensible-editor"
in which case

  $ lynx -editor=/usr/bin/sensible-editor http://example.com

should invoke their preferred editor.

Alternatively, you can use "o" to go to the lynx options, check the
"Save options to disk" checkbox, set the Editor value in there, and
save the options.

Strangely, lynx doesn't honor the common method of setting either
the $EDITOR or $VISUAL environment variable.

> In alpine for example there is a field for editor, and one for spell
> checking, I admit to thinking they worked together as in are software
> dependent.

They can be the same thing or they can be different tools.  Some
editors have spell-check support, some don't; so you might want an
external spell-checker.

> Does lynx work the same?  meaning does there need to be one field
> for the editor and one for spell checker?

I don't think lynx has anything spell-checking-related, just
editor-related.  However, if they use an editor with built-in
spell-checking, that would do the trick.

> or is it enough to make sure the chosen editor is configured
> to use the desired spell checker.  meaning adding the editor will
> allow for spell checking as well?

I believe this is the case.  I know that vim and emacs both have
support for spell-checking.  And nano does too if you enable it and
add a spell-checking package:

  $ sudo apt-get install spell

With the spell-checker installed, you should be able to use control+t
in nano to spell-check the file.

Hopefully that helps,

-tim