In March 1998, on the Internet mailing list called Visually Impaired Computer Users Group, Dan Dunfee posted a series of ten tips on using the Lynx web browser. Here is a compilation of those messages. ---------- Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 11:37:59 -0500 From: dan dunfee To: VICUG-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU Subject: tip # 1,making lynx and pine work for you hello, last week i asked for responses from those interested in more information about making lynx and pine work more effectively. i have been debating about how to best do this. there were indeed responses. i considered a mini list, a one time; but large; mailing, etc. what i have decided to do is send out tips one or two at a time. with the prefix of "tip" in the subject line, those not interested can skip it. doing it in parts lets the interested to skip, ignore, use, and compile the information as makes sense to them. i will do about a tip a day, here is the first tip: go to the web site AT: http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/ ABOUT 4 OR 5 LINKS DOWN, ONE CAN DOWNLOAD FIRST A LYNX.CFG CONFIGURATION FILE. THE NEXT LINK GETS THE LYNXRC FILE. if you haven't downloaded a file while in lynx before, write me and i will show you how to do so. MOST OF MY TIPS ARE BASED IN CHANGING THE CONFIGURATIONS in these files. leave a copy of each in your shell directory and download a copy to your computer to follow along as we go through the tips. they are plain text files and can be read with a text reader like readit. if you don't use this program, there are many free ones widely available. if all else fails, load it into a text editor or word processor to read. these files can be found elsewhere on the web but these already contain some of the changes i will suggest. i will discuss these changes tomorrow to show use of these files and the logic for the changes. the page referred to above is quite valuable in itself as it is a lynx help reference aimed toward the blind user. you might want to look that over anyway. one tip i can pass along now doesn't rely on these files. you can send email to anyone when you are in lynx. hit the "g" key just as though you were going to type in a web address for lynx to go to. instead of the usual http etc. etc. type this: mailto:address where address is the email address of the recipient. you may have already noticed that when someone on a web page provides a link to send them email, the address uses that format. using it, you can send to anyone. to test it, send a test note to yourself. this is often useful when there is an email address on a page to which you would like to write. lynx has simple mail writing functionality built in. in a later tip, i will show how to have lynx use the same one as pine. that one is full screen and has additional useful features and is not limited to a few lines at a time, as in lynx. ---------- Subject: tip 2 make lynx & pine work for you hello, there are two tips for today which will be used together and will provide the practical basis for implementing some of the future tips. i will discus the two tips first and at the end have a step by step guide for using them. if you are unfamiliar with the format of using commands, it might be prudent to do a character by character exploration of them with your screen reader. as it is in dos, spaces; symbols; and exact spelling is important in what we will be doing. 1. in pine one can shell out back to the unix command prompt. in dos many programs also have this feature where one can temporarily go back to the "c" prompt, do some computer function or command, and then pop right back into the program at the point where the shell out was done. in pine this shell is accomplished first by adding an extra part to the command which starts pine as follows: pine -z i recommend that only lower case characters be used at the unix command line because all unix functions are in lower case and will not work in upper case. the -z tells pine to allow a shell. when in pine, holding down the control key and pressing the z key will do the shell. because text from within pine will be left on the screen even though you are at the command line, using the clear command will clear the screen and not be confusing for screen readers. so, after doing the control + z command, give this command to unix to clear the screen: clear in dos, typing exit as a command pops back into the program. in unix fg is the command to use. the next time you start pine try it. you must return to pine before leaving your internet connection to avoid problems in unix. this is important for proper operation of pine the next time you log onto your account. using this technique, one can read the tips in pine, go to the command line and make the suggested changes to the lynx configuration files and pop back into pine to resume where you left. don't feel you must do it this way, do what is comfortable for you based on your experience. 2. the second tip relates to making changes in the lynx configuration files. one could make changes on their machines and upload them to the unix system. i don't recommend this unless you know for sure that your text editor and/or word processor are compatible with the way unix handles text files. instead, i will be using the pico text editor on the unix system. without knowing it, you already know how to, and have already used this unix text editor. when you write an email message in pine it starts pico and then leaves it when you send the message. so, all of the editing and moving around the screen commands should already be familiar to you. the only major difference is when leaving pico. when you send a message, you use the control + x command. it is the same to save a file when using pico as a text editor. unlike how it works in pine when sending a message, pico asks for confirmation of wanting to save any changes and to confirm the file name upon exiting. the prompts for both of these will be on line 22 just as prompts are in pine. so, this is the technique i recommend unless you prefer to do it another way. here are the steps to use: a. start pine with the -z addition to the command. b. when reading these tips messages and you find you want to implement some feature in lynx by changing the lynx configuration file, do a shell from within pine with the control + z key combination. c. when at the unix command line, do the clear command to clear the screen. d. type pico plus the name of the lynx file which is the topic of the tip. i will tell you in each tip which file is to be changed. for example: pico lynx.cfg e. when finished making the changes, save the file. f. use the fg command to pop back to the tip message in pine and go on. if you have any questions about these procedures, please ask. ---------- Subject: tip 3 make lynx & pine work for you hello, there are two parts to the tips today. before we plunge into making large changes to the lynx configuration files, we need to discuss how they will be used when you start lynx. also, we will look at the changes already made in the screen reader version of lynx.cfg. the first tip, how to have lynx use the configuration changes you want: because being able to have a moving cursor is so important in many screen reading situations, most of you will have been advised to start lynx using the following command format: lynx -show_cursor if this is not done, the lynx cursor stays at the bottom of the screen and doesn't move around the screen as you move from link to link. being able to speak the link the cursor is on and the line it is on, and the paragraph it is in, etc.; makes speech life much easier in lynx. you will not have to do that ever again because the show_cursor has been changed in the lynx.cfg file i advised downloading in the first message of this series. for those who did not get them yet, i will repeat again at the end where to find them. by taking away one additional part of the command example above, we must add a new one to make the lynx on your unix system use the lynx.cfg file in your directory in the unix shell account. the new command will be this: lynx -cfg lynx.cfg what this does is to tell lynx not to use the system wide lynx.cfg configuration file that everyone uses, lynx will instead use the one you modify for your own best use in the ways that make it easier for you. second tip,changes in the screen reader oriented lynx.cfg file: there are other changes also in this lynx.cfg file modified for screen reader use. let me go over them here. it is possible that you will want to change some of them back because you like it that way for your own purposes. the command for each is on it's own line in lynx.cfg, more about that in the next tip. they are: 1. show_cursor=TRUE , as above. 2. DEFAULT_KEYPAD_MODE_IS_NUMBERS_AS_ARROWS:FALSE THIS CHANGE PUTS A NUMBER AT THE POSITION OF EACH link ON A PAGE. IF THERE ARE FOUR LINKS ON A PAGE, THEY WILL BE NUMBERED 1 THROUGH 4. AN EXAMPLE MIGHT BE: 1 MY HOME PAGE 2 MY wife's HOME PAGE ETC. INSTEAD OF USING THE ARROW KEYS TO MOVE TO THE DESIRED LINK TO CHOOSE IT, YOU HIT THE NUMBER OF THE LINK. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE WHERE I DON'T WANT THIS FEATURE. I DON'T WAND THE ADDITIONAL CHATTER OF THE NUMBERS WHICH I FEEL TENDS TO DisTRACT FROM THE FLOW OF THE SPEECH. IN MY OWN LYNX.CFG FILE, THIS LINE IS: DEFAULT_KEYPAD_MODE_IS_NUMBERS_AS_ARROWS:TRUE MANY FEATURES CAN BE TOGGLED ON OR OFF BY PUTTING TRUE OR FALSE AT THE END. OTHERS CHANGE THE INFORMATION IN OTHER WAYS. WE WILL SEE SOME OF THESE IN OTHER TIPS. 3. DEFAULT_USER_MODE:ADVANCED THERE ARE THREE USER LEVEL MODES, NOVICE THROUGH ADVANCED. I WILL NOT GO INTO THE DETAILS OF THE DIFFERENCES HERE. THE REASON THE SCREEN READER VERSION OF THE LYNX.CFG FILE HAS "ADVANCED" IS BECAUSE IT ALLOWS YOU TO SEE THE DESTINATION WEB ADDRESS OF THE LINK ON WHICH THE CURSOR RESIDES. THIS INFORMATION APPEARS AT LINE 24 OF THE SCREEN AND IS THE ONLY LINE AT THE BOTTOM. "NOVICE" IS THE STANDARD MODE IN LYNX WHICH PUTS TWO LINES OF INFORMATION ON THE LINES 23 AND 24. the "advanced" mode THEREFORE ALSO GETS AN ADDITIONAL LINE OF EACH PAGE FOR EACH SCREEN OF THAT PAGE. THE BEST PART IS SEEING THE DESTINATION WEB ADDRESS OF A LINK. FOR EXAMPLE A SAMPLE LINE 24 MIGHT LOOK LIKE THIS: MORE HTTP://WWW.ALL-NET.COM/TOMSPLACE.HTML OR: HTTP://WWW.BETACORP.COM/MENU.HTML OR: MAILTO:DDUNFEE@CITY-NET.COM MANY TIMES ON WEB PAGES BECAUSE OF POOR PAGE CONSTRUCTION, LYNX WILL ONLY INDICATE A LINK WHICH IS NOT LABELED WITH TEXT AS: [LINK] BY LOOKING AT LINE 24 THE WEB ADDRESS OF THAT UNLABELED LINK WOULD BE REVEALED. SO, IN THE ABOVE EXAMPLES, THE FIRST IS PROBABLY A HOME PAGE BECAUSE IT HAS A PERSON'S NAME AS PART OF THE ADDRESS. THE SECOND, AT THE END, SAYS THE PAGES' TITLE IS "MENU.HTML" WHICH INDICATES IT'S FUNCTION AS A PAGE OF MENU LINKS. THE THIRD IS AN EXAMPLE OF a link on THE PAGE PERMITTING THE ABILITY TO SEND AN EMAIL MESSAGE TO THE MAIL ADDRESS, WHICH HAPPENS TO BE MY OWN. in the next tip, we will go over how the lynx.cfg file is laid out and actually make some changes, if you want the change that is. the screen reader oriented lynx files are at: http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/ple/ddunfee/lynx_bookmarks.html the forth and fith links down, as i recall, permit downloading lynx.cfg and lynxrc respectively. if anything in this tip requires clarification, please ask. ---------- Subject: tip 4 making lynx & pine work for you hello, in this tip we will look at how the lynx.cfg and lynxrc files are laid out and how they are different. then, we will go into lynx.cfg and make a change to see first hand how that file can personalize the way lynx works for you. for the latter, there will be a step by step guide at the end. i will be away from the keyboard a couple of days until the next tip. there are at least four ways lynx can be modified. 1. by adding things to the lynx startup command. the most familiar is probably: lynx -show_cursor a complete list of these additional startup items can be found by the command: lynx -help the only one i suggest using is: lynx -cfg lynx.cfg because these start up command changes can be put in configuration files, it is easier to use them there instead of typing long start up commands to get the features you want. 2. using the "o" key command while in lynx can change it's behavior. 3. change the lynxrc file. the changes from using the "o" command above are stored in the lynxrc file. you have been using a lynxrc file all along but didn't know it. in unix, putting a period at the beginning of a file name makes it invisible when saved or copied. so when you use the "o" key in lynx, it is saved in a file you don't normally see and you didn't already know you had. the lynxrc file modified for screen readers has some features thought to be useful. just as with those put in the lynx.cfg file we discussed last time, they may or may not suit your fancy. use a text reading or text editor program to survey the changes in the copy you downloaded to your computer, to see what the screen reader version has. use a search feature in your reading or editing program and look for "blind" for those items they have high lighted as being important, at least in their opinion. the same search in lynx.cfg will also turn up such items there. then if you want to change them, do so directly in the lynxrc file or accomplish the same thing using the "o" command while in lynx. 4. we can change the commands in lynx.cfg as we have already discussed and as we will do below. all of the methods overlap to a degree. by either modifying the lynx.cfg or lynxrc files, we can get at all of the features we want to change. in these two files, there is a common format. there will be a first line containing the topic for a section such as "show cursor" followed by an explanation of the possible variations and the effect each choice will have in lynx's operation. following the explanation section, the actual command will be on a line by itself. so, 90 percent of the file is taken up with explanation. in the files, the symbol "#" at the start of a line causes lynx to ignore it at start time. all of the explanation lines have it and some of the command lines. so, for some commands, removing that symbol activates the feature it controls. again, use the sample files you downloaded for reference, on your computer, and skim through the files to see how this format actually appears. there is some are chain computerese here and there, you don't have to worry about it. when i recommend a change to try, i will identify the line of the command and say what the change is and what it will do. for the more experienced or adventuress, look through the files and try things on your own. as illustrated below, making the change on the copy in your internet shell account directory is the one that counts. enough preliminary chatter, let's go inside the lynx.cfg file and make a change. remember, i suggest using the pico text editor because you have already encountered it in pine as the email editor for creating messages. when you have been looking at many web pages, you may notice that there may be a significant delay if you go back to revisit one of them. lynx keeps so many pages in memory for this purpose and can go to it with no delay. that number is now 10. we are going to increase that number so there will be far less delays for revisiting pages. when the internet is slow, the delay as lynx calls up the original web address to be able to show that page, the wait can be quite frustrating. if lynx keeps enough of them, the move back to an earlier page is instantaneous because it is in memory and doesn't have to be reloaded from some distant web site. the full command line as it appears in lynx.cfg is: #DEFAULT_CACHE_SIZE:10 please note the "#" symbol as the first character. here is an example where we will both remove the "#" symbol to activate the command and change a number to change how lynx acts. don't worry about causing trouble on the internet account you use. if the number is too large, the unix computer will use up to the maximum it is set for and ignore the remainder. so here are the steps to make the change to 100 pages: 1. to bring lynx.cfg up in pico for changes,give the command: pico lynx.cfg 2. we will need to find the line of the command to change. use the "where is" search feature by holding down the control key and hitting the "w" key. a prompt for the search item appears at line 22 where you can type it in and hit enter to initiate it. the item we are going to change can be found searching for: #DEFAULT 3. now your cursor should be on the "#" symbol as the first character of the line. 4. use the right arrow key to go one character to the right. 5. hit the backspace key to erase the "#" symbol to activate the command. we do a backspace because it is quite likely the unix computer doesn't recognize the "delete" key on our keyboards. 6. now hold the control key and hit "e" to move the cursor to the end of the line. 7. type a number zero. now the number of pages is 100 instead of 10 as before. 8. now it is time to save the change and leave pico. hold the control key and hit "x". a prompt on line 22 will ask if you want to save the change, hit "y". it will then prompt for the name of the file to be saved. the original name lynx.cfg is already there, so hit "enter" to save. that's it. the next time you are surfing the web through many pages, you will notice that lynx goes to an earlier page instantly. if you exceed 100 pages, it cuts the first page visited from memory. to use the change, start lynx by using the command: lynx -cfg lynx.cfg. remember, you don't need to use the "show cursor" addition at start up because it has already been activated in this version of lynx.cfg. ---------- Subject: tip 5 downloading directly in lynx hello, so far we have looked at the general principles of using the built in configuration potential of lynx by choosing either to modify the lynx.cfg and lynxrc files directly, or the latter through the "o" options while using lynx. in the last tip we made such a change in the lynx.cfg file to keep more pages in memory for lynx to jump back to when required. this time we are going to do a more powerful change, we will add the ability to directly download files of all forms to our hard drives and skip the step of saving and then downloading to our hard drives from the internet account. this is a little trickier then the change made last time. that is why i wanted to demonstrate the general principle and basic process on it first. from now on, most of the tips will assume knowing this groundwork information and will be more a task of drawing attention to other possible useful features to add. if required, additional information will be provided for some of the more difficult ones. in case you make a mistake you can't correct, use the following command to make a copy of the lynx.cfg file. if necessary, the new copy can be copied back if problems can't be corrected, without losing any changes you made previously. before making each change to the lynx.cfg file, use the following command: cp lynx.cfg lynx.copy the lynx.cfg file permits one to define printing and downloading devices and destinations. as it is now, the default setup for these can be seen as: 1. when the cursor is on a link which represents a downloadable file, we can hit the "d" key to bring up that function. the default setup menu has just one choice, to save the file to the hard drive of one's internet provider. 2. for the current web page, we can print it by choosing the "p" key where there are usually 3 default menu choices. one is to save to the hard drive as above, second is to send it as email to yourself, and third is to scroll the file on the screen so the screen capture function built into many communications software programs will save it as a file on your hard drive. what we will see today for files and in the next tip for web pages, is how to add "download" to both of these "download" to the menus. please look closely at the following command line which we will be adding to the lynx.cfg file. it is presented on three lines here because it is too long to be viewed on one line in most software applications. it is: DOWNLOADER:download : set %s %s;td=/tmp/Lsz$$;mkdir $td;ln -s $1 $td/"$2";sz $td/" $2";rm -r $td:true don't worry what all the parts mean. if you want the details, the explanation will appear in the section just before where we will place the line. it must be only on one line to function. when we get into the lynx.cfg file, we will reassemble it. using a computer cut and paste method, or some way to record the three lines external to the computer, copy the lines above. be extra careful to get it complete, and without errors and be sure to include spaces exactly as they are placed. if you are copying the lines to something external to transfer them, double check it before going ahead. here is the step by step approach: 1. as before, load the lynx.cfg file into pico with the command: pico lynx.cfg 2. to find the right place, use the control + "w" key combination command and search for: zmodem 3. use the control + "e" key combination command to move the cursor to the end of the line. 4. hit enter to move down and create a new blank line. 5. now enter the first of the sub lines above. 6. hit enter for a new line. 7.enter the second of the sub lines above. 8.lastly, hit enter for a new line and enter the last line from above. now we get to the tricky part. because it is too long, pico will word wrap the line back into parts if we don't take care to do the following steps exactly: 1. use the control + "a" key combination command to put the cursor at the beginning of the last line just entered. 2. hit the backspace key. this will re combine lines 2 and 3 into one longer line. 3. without doing anything else, do the control + "a" command again which puts the cursor at the beginning of this longer combined line.. 4. hit the backspace key again. 5. without doing anything else, use the control + "x" command to save the changes. follow the prompts on line 22 to do this after giving the save command above. now, when you use lynx again, use the following start up command: lynx -cfg lynx.cfg this will include the new feature. go to a page where there are files to download. put the cursor on the link that represents the file and hit "d". there will now be two download choices on the menu. the first will be the old save to disk, which means the internet provider's hard drive. the second will be download which is to your hard drive. choose the second one and hit enter. the prompt line at the bottom of the page will ask if the current file name is ok or needs to be changed. change it if you like by backspacing over the name there. most file names will stick to the dos requirement that it have only up to 8 characters before the period and up to 3 after it. if it is too long, change it to what you want. now hit enter and it will begin to download to your hard drive and will be placed where down loaded files usually are found. when finished, the download menu will still be on the screen, hit the left arrow key to step back out of it, so there you have it. next time, we will add the same function to the print menu. ---------- Subject: tip 6 download pages from lynx hello, this time we are going to add "download" as an option to the print menu options in lynx. remember, this downloads the page as it appears when you are on it. the download option we added last time was to download a file when the cursor is on the link which represents it. as before, this will download the page directly to your hard drive skipping the save to your internet account and then down load to your computer step. the procedure here is quite similar to the last tip. first look at this command which is on two lines because it is too long for normal application viewing. when we put it into the lynx.cfg file, we will reassemble it into just one long line. it is: printer:download:set %s %s;td=/tmp/Lsz$$;mkdir $td;ln -s $1 $td/" $2";sz $td/"$2";rm -r $td:TRUE use a cut and paste routine to copy these lines or carefully copy them to an external location from which you can put them into the lynx.cfg file. they must be entered exactly with no deviations. again, for those interested in the details of how lynx uses this, look at the explanation which appears just before the line on which we will place it. here are the steps: 1. load the lynx.cfg file. 2. use the pico search command to find this line: # PRINTER: 3. use the control + "e" command to put the cursor at the end of the line. 4. hit enter to move down and make a new line. 5. put in the first line from above and hit enter to begin a new line. 6. put in the second line. 7. use the control + "a" command to put the cursor at the beginning of the line. 8. hit the backspace key to combine the two lines into one, all on the same line. 9. without doing any thing else, save the lynx.cfg file. when next loading linx using the -cfg lynx.cfg addition, go to a page you want to download, and do: 1. hit "p" to bring up the print options menu. 2. "download" will be there as the last item, and choose it. 3. here this command deviates a little from the download a file routine. if the page is over about 4 printed pages, of 66 lines each, it will ask you to confirm on the prompt line at the bottom of the screen. if it is shorter, this step is skipped. 4. it prompts to use the current page name. again, using the dos rule of up to 8 characters before the period and up to 3 after it, change the name or hit enter to select. sometimes a page will have a very long name with lots of weird things, these should always be changed to one of your liking. 5. it will be downloaded and put where downloaded items are usually placed in your computer. 6. the screen returns to normal. that's it, next time we will look at some new categories of features you may want to elect to change to suit your personal usage of lynx. ---------- Subject: tip 7 ,key command majic hello, this time we are going to consider useful key commands in lynx and how you can change them to your liking for easier keyboarding. the current function of each of the key commands can be seen while in lynx by hitting the "k" key. for reference in this tip, go to lynx and bring the key command help page up and use the "print" command to get a copy for your computer's hard drive. when you review the key command file, be sure to turn on having punctuation marks read in your screen reader, or, explore the beginning of each line which shows each key for a given command and description of it's function character by character. this is important because many commands are either one of the punctuation marks or uses the "^" character ( short hand for the control key) in combination with something else as a combination key command. also, letter case makes a difference, as described below. in the key help file, a screen full is referred to as a "page". to avoid confusion, when i use "page" it will refer to a location on the web; such as someone's home page. a web page may contain several screens of content. so, a page is a web location and a screen is a portion of a page, as i will use the definitions. there are a few other things to keep in mind about key commands. as you will see, almost all of the keys are used and some functions are duplicated by more then one key command. for example, hitting either ">", "+", "^n", or "3" keys will go to the next screen of a web page. also, an upper case letter has a different function then the same letter in lower case, in some instances. for example, to exit lynx, a lower case "q" has a confirmation step. the upper case "q" exits without confirmation. first i would like to draw your attention to some keys which i have found very helpful. there are many more i don't mention which are in the key help file, for your consideration. the ones i want to mention are: 1. the number keys 1 through 9 perform navigation functions while on a page. we just saw above that "3" takes one down a screen of a page each time pressed. each number key does: a. 1 > goes to the bottom of the page b 7 > goes to the top of a page. c. 2 > goes down to the next link d. 8 > goes up one link e. 6 > chooses a link to go somewhere else f. 4 > steps back to the previous page g. 3 > goes down a screen at a time h. 9 > goes up a screen at a time using the number pad version of these, one can with one hand and in one location navigate a page completely and browse throughout the web at will. while all have other equivalent key commands, they are spread around the keyboard and require two hands when it is a key combination command. this is also useful for a left handed braille output user. 2. the "l" key brings up a list of all the links on a page. on long pages, this can be useful by not having to consider or read all the content of pages to locate links which might be of interest. 3. the "\" key reloads a page showing all of the otherwise hidden codes which determine how a page looks and acts. for those building a page, one can see the associated page codes for an interesting feature. or one can cut and paste to create custom pages which only you have access to, unlike home pages which all can use. more about doing that in a later tip. 4. the backspace key brings up a list of web address pages visited. the "v" key, in addition, brings up all of the links used, no matter even if at the same address. if you use the first to go back, you still have to hunt for the particular link you used. it is already there on the list with the second key command. 5. when you use "/" to initiate a search, you use "n" to search for the next instance. when you want to use a previous search item, press "/" and then use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through previous search items. using an upper case "g" will permit editing a previous search item. 6. when lynx prompts to enter and/or change something at the bottom of the screen, control + "a" and control + "e" will take you to the beginning and ends of the line respectively. as in pine, delete a character by backspacing over it only. left and right arrow keys move a character at a time. in the lynx.cfg file there is provision to change or add key commands. i will change two of them there to illustrate the principle of how it can be done. what i'm going to do is duplicate the "/" key which does searches, and the "n" key which searches again for the same item. why do this? to use the current commands, one needs to take the right hand away from the number pad where i do all of my navigating as described above. by adding letters to do the same thing with the left hand only, i can keep my right hand where it is. also, braille output folk may want to change these and other keys to keep either the right or left hand on the braille pad and do key commands with the other. for those interested, an explanation of doing this and what functions are tied to what keys, can be found in sections preceding the lines we will change. in technical terms, we are dealing with "keymapping" which determines what keys do in lynx. here are the steps: 1. load the lynx.cfg file in pico and do a search for: #keymap:/ note the "forward slash" at the end of the above. 2. hold down the control key and hit "k", followed by holding the control key and hitting "u" two times. what you just did is to cut the line in question, and then to paste it back twice. doing so, in practice, is a short cut way to copy a line without retyping it. 3. the cursor should be on the "#" symbol at the beginning of the line. backspace over it to activate the function of this keymap. 4. arrow over to the "/" and change it to "w". in doing so, we change the keymap to add "w" to perform the search command. not only is it used by the left hand, it also duplicates a similar command as used in pine and pico we have used previously. left handed braille folk may want to choose an unused letter for the right hand. look at the key help file to find an unused one. remember, letter case makes a difference. i suggest using lower case as most key commands are that already. 5. search for: #keymap:n 6. repeat the steps 2 through 4 above, to add the letter "f" to duplicate the "n" keymap for searching again for the same item. 7. save and exit pico. if you want to make a combination key command, put a "^"before the letter. while it is possible, i don't recommend removing a "^" from existing key commands because many of them are used when typing in characters and a letter hit by itself would only be typed in as any other rather then doing some command function. already used letters can be made to do something else and you can avoid duplication by using the upper case of a letter. the next time loaded, the "w" key does a search, and the "f" finds the item again; all with the left hand alone. that's all for this tip, more to come. ---------- Subject: tip 8, lynx doing the email tango hello, in this tip we are going to add pico to lynx for use when sending email messages. we will also go over three ways lynx can be used to respond to others with email, even if the email address of a page's author isn't known. and finally, we will describe how to have lynx automatically use your email address as the sender when emailing. first, in an earlier tip i mentioned that the rudimentary text editor lynx uses can be replaced with pico. this permits one to have a full screen editor with more functions and one with which you are already familiar from having used it in pine as the message writer. to add pico as the editor in lynx also, one can do it in two ways. the first is: 1. use the "o" command while in lynx. this brings up a menu of features and functions to choose or change in lynx. 2. near the top of that list is the selection relating to editor choice. hit "e" to choose it for change. 3. type "pico" in, hit enter to return to the selection list. 4. holding shift and hitting the "." key will save the change, this represents the ">" key. if you make a change and want it to last just for this session or until you change it again, hit "r" to return to lynx from the options menu instead of ">" to save it as a default. secondly, the same change can be made using the lynxrc file. as mentioned before, when changes are made and saved using the method just outlined, it is kept in this file. thus, the same can be accomplished by changing or adding to it. use these steps: 1. using pico to make the change, bring up the lynxrc file. 2. use control + "w" and search for: editor= 3. go to the end of the line and type pico. 4. save and exit pico. if you recall, i suggested you also use this version of lynxrc because it too has changes already in place thought to be useful for blind users. i reviewed those before and they can be found by doing a search for "blind", where they are discussed. i also mentioned that normally the lynxrc file is hidden by using a "." as the first character of it's name. to use the one just modified and replace the hidden one, do the following. at the unix command prompt use the command: cp lynxrc .lynxrc as you might surmise, cp is the unix equivalent of the dos copy command. now when you use lynx to send an email message, it will run pico. there will be a few differences, however, from the way it works in pine and on it's own as we have been using it to modify lynx files. these are: 1. to remain consistent with the form as used in lynx elsewhere, the "delete line" and "cancel pico session" commands are different then those used in pico outside of lynx. instead, control + "u" deletes a line and control + "g" cancels the operation. 2. there will be a list of fields to enter or change information. the label of the field and the text entry are all on the same line, making use with a screen reader easy. they are: 1. the first field in which things can be entered is one's personal name. this is optional if you don't want it known for some reason. 2. the second field is one's email address. one can type it in, or, i will describe later below how to have this automatically put there by lynx. this too can be left blank 3. the third field is the subject field. as it first appears, the subject is the web address of the page on which the email link was chosen. unless that page is the subject, delete it as described above. otherwise, enter what you want the subject to be. 4. the forth field is a "cc" to yourself. if lynx is putting your address in automatically, it is already there. if you don't want a copy, delete the line as described above. if you want to send a copy to another address instead, type it in here. 5. the fifth and last field asks for a "yes or no" response as TO RATHER YOU WANT THE CONTENT OF THE PAGE TO BE INCLUDED IN THE MESSAGE or not. 6. PAST THOSE FIELDS, PICO LOADS TO AN EMPTY SCREEN AND YOU COMPOSE THE MESSAGE. 7. WHEN READY, USE CONTROL + "X" AS YOU DO ELSEWHERE WITH PICO TO SAVE AND EXIT. 8. IT WILL PROMPT FOR A FINAL CONFIRMATION TO SEND THE EMAIL MESSAGE. the three ways lynx can send email messages are these: 1. choosing a link on a web page representing an email address. 2. WE ALSO MENTION BEFORE THAT ANYONE CAN BE SENT AN EMAIL MESSAGE FROM WITHIN LYNX, IF THERE IS A LINK THERE TO DO IT OR NOT. INSTEAD OF ENTERING A WEB ADDRESS AFTER HITTING THE "G" COMMAND, ONE ENTERS THIS: MAILTO:ADDRESS WHERE ADDRESS IS THE iNTENDED RECIPIENT'S address. IF CHOSEN AS THE LYNX EDITOR, PICO WILL ALSO FUNCTION HERE AS JUST DESCRIBED. 3. if the email address of the web author is not represented by a link to choose, one can sometimes send a message anyhow. here are the steps: 1. hit the "c" key to initiate the lynx "comment" command. 2. it will ask if you want to send a comment, which is in fact an email message. 3. if the email address isn't explicitly know by lynx, it will offer an optional address associated with the current web page. sometimes, no address is know to lynx and the routine stops there accordingly, with a prompt to that effect from lynx. 4. pico will run and operate as described above. as promised, your email address can be put into the sender email address field automatically. it is also one of the options available when using the "o" command from within lynx or it can be put directly into the lynxrc file. do the former by the method described above and the latter as also described, except to search for: personal_mail_address= and fill in your email address at the end of the line. don't forget to forget to copy the lynxrc file as above for it to become the active one when you use lynx. that's it for this tip. ---------- Subject: tip 9 have lynx use your own page files hello, in this tip we will look at ways lynx can be employed to view, read, and use pages with links to elsewhere kept in your home directory in your shell account. in this way, you can use pages only you can visit just as though they are on your own web page. we will also discuss how to use a file of your choosing, for the first page lynx goes to when you start it. lynx can use files located anywhere, it only needs to be directed to their location, including those you keep in your home directory. lynx can be used to view text files to which you want to return for reference. it can also make use of links kept on text files of your own construction and, complete page files you download to your home directory from any where on the internet. the first thing you need to know is the location of your home directory on the shell account hard drive so you can direct lynx to it's contents. to find that information, give this command at the unix command line: pwd what appears will look something like the following hypothetical example: /disk05/members/directory/ the first two parts are names of directories under which is located your directory, indicated above as "directory". there may be more or less then just 2 directories preceding your home directory. the name of the latter is often the logan name you use to connect to your shell account. save the results of the pwd command exactly as it appears for use below. now we know where to direct lynx to find and use files in your home directory. one of the best ways to use lynx in this manner is to construct a start page to which it first goes when you start it. on some systems lynx first goes to a page chosen by the shell account computer. on some others where no page is chosen, it goes to a page at the university of kansas where lynx was first developed. the first thing is to create a start file or use an existing one already in your home directory. the name of the one i suggest creating or using, is: lynx_bookmarks.html if you have saved bookmarks before while using lynx, it has already been created for you. if you have not saved bookmarks or don't know what they are, follow these steps to create lynx_bookmarks.html: 1. start lynx as usual. 2. hit the "g" key and on the prompt line that will appear at the bottom of the screen type this: file:localhost command results where command results is what appeared when you gave the "pwd" command above to find your home directory location. put the results right after "host" above with no spaces. hit enter. 3. a menu listing the contents of your home directory will appear. 4. to save your home directory as a link on your bookmarks page, hit the "a" key and then the "d" key. the prompt line at the bottom will ask you for the name that will appear as the link on your bookmark page. delete anything already there and enter the name of your choice. hit the enter key. 5. if you previously didn't have a bookmark page, you do now. to see the contents of your bookmark page, hit the "v" key and it will appear. if this is the first link you have already saved, the name you gave the link to your home directory will be the only one there. if you had one previously, it will be the last link. if you are using multiple bookmark pages, it will be the last link of the "a" choice of pages. you can direct lynx to use your lynx_bookmarks.html file as your start page automatically. as we have done with other features of lynx, we are going to change the lynx.cfg file to stipulate that file in your home directory as the start up page. follow these steps: 1. load the lynx.cfg file into pico and search for: startfile: 2. put the cursor on the first character after the colon and hit the return key. this will move anything that was after the colon down a line. now hit the "#" key, alt + 3 on the top line, so lynx will not try to use this as a command. 3 go up a line and put the cursor just after the colon. 4. now type in the information the pwd command produced above, exactly. 5. just after the last "/" of those pwd results, type in: lynx_bookmarks.html. 6. save the changes and exit pico. the next time you start lynx, your bookmark page will appear. if you don't want the bookmark file to be the first one at start up, substitute a file of your choice of a new one of your naming. following the steps above, you can go to your local directory and save it as a link there instead. to create a new file to substitute in lynx.cfg, do this: 1. give the command: pico filename.html where filename.html is the name you choose. 2. if you wish, you can type in what ever you might like to have appear at the top of the new page. 3. save and exit pico. this is the file you would use to replace lynx_bookmarks.html when you change the lynx.cfg file, as also described above. as many links to any other file in your directory you want to have, or any where on the web, can be kept on your start up page. it is often handy to have the links you use most frequently together at the top of your start up page. in the next tip, i will show how to edit and/or rearrange the order of links on a start up page. if you would like to keep a page from elsewhere in your home directory, you can download it as was described in a previous tip thusly: 1. when on the page you want to keep a copy in your home directory, hit the "\" key. the page will then reload showing all of the web page codes, which a browser uses to show a page as it looks when you go to it. 2. hit the "p" key and choose the "save to disk" menu item that appears. 3. it will prompt to confirm the name of the page. if you want something different, enter it. what ever the page name has after the point in it's name, change it to "html" instead. now when you choose the link on the start up page for your home directory, this page will appear as one of the files there. move the highlight bar there and pick it. it will appear just as it was when you first went there. it will operate just as though you were on the original "real" page. that's all for now. ---------- Subject: tip 10 using lynx in your home directory hello, in this tip, we will continue with describing how lynx can be used with files in the home directory of your shell account. in the last tip, we showed how to have your home directory be a link to choose just as though it was a page anywhere on the web. now we will describe how lynx can do file editing and file management and other functions to help organize and manage the contents of your home directory. we will start by showing how to edit files in your home directory from within lynx. as we described in a previous tip, pico can be stipulated as the text editor to use when sending email messages from with in lynx. it can also be used as a file editor for a page file if it resides in your home directory. using the hypothetical text file , named "myfile",as an example of how to do editing from within lynx, follow these steps: 1. start lynx as usual. if you followed the last tip, the first page is the start up page of your choice, and it has a link on it going to your home directory. 2. choose that link and go to your home directory. you will see a menu list of the files and subdirectories in your home directory, including the file named "myfile". 3. to edit that file, put the highlight cursor on it and hit the "e" key. this will start the text editor pico and load the file. 4. now any changes can be made to this file and saved, as you usually do when saving and exiting pico. you will return to the file list menu in your home directory. the file listings are just like links on any web page, in fact, you can think of, and use, the contents of your home directory as though it is a web page to which only you have access. putting the cursor on a file, and choosing it like a link, allows you to go to that file as though it is a page anywhere on the internet. if it is just a plain text page, you can view the contents and move around in it using standard lynx navigation commands. if the file is a page with links on it, you can go to the page pointed to by the link. in the last tip, we described how to download a page from anywhere to your home directory. if you go to it, all of the information and links it contains, are there for you to use anytime you should require. another function you can perform while on a file in your home directory, is to edit it. when lynx is on that file as a page, hit the "e" key as above. as before, pico will load the file for editing. after you save and exit pico, you are back on the file page and any editing done will be present. one very useful application of this editing function from within lynx is to change and/or reorder the links in your bookmark or startup file. in the last tip, we showed how to use a file of your choice as the first page lynx goes to at start up time. while it can be any file, we used the primary bookmark file called: lynx_bookmarks.html using the techniques just described, you can edit the contents of that primary bookmark file, or any other bookmark file if you use multiple bookmark files. using the standard key commands, you can always add a link to the bookmark file. if the cursor is on a link there, hitting the "r" key will allow you to remove the link. however, it can be very useful to reorder the links as they appear and put the most frequently used ones together at the top of your start up and/or bookmark file. in order to do that, you need to edit the contents directly. if your primary book mark file or start up file has another name, substitute that name and follow these steps to change it's contents: 1. while you are on the startup or bookmark page, or have the cursor placed on it while in your home directory, load it in pico for editing; as previously described. 2. while there can be many things that can appear in a bookmark file, most standard links would look like the following lines:
  • local directory
  • Search Engines each of the double lines above appears as one in actual use in a page file. i have split each of them so the second line is what appears as the link label. the first example is the actual link for my home directory, which i have named "local directory". the second example is a set of speech friendly search engines, called "search engines" in turn. the latter is on a set of speech friendly reference pages i find most helpful. you might want to copy the two lines and reconstruct them as one line in your bookmark or startup page file for a link to the search engine page. i have included these two examples so you can see the pattern of how the link information appears. each link line begins with "
  • " and ends with "". you may delete any of these lines in pico by using the control + "k" key command which cuts a line at a time. if you want to reorder and/or relocate links, follow these steps: 1. go to the line in question and do the "cut line" command as above. 2. move the cursor to the line after which you want the line to be placed. 3. use the control + "u" key command to paste the previously cut line in the line above the one on which the cursor resides. 4. repeat this cut and paste process as many times as desired and in the order desired so you can place the links together in the form you want. using the pattern of the link line examples above, you can copy links from one page to another to build up custom start up pages or any pages for any function you desire. also, using a web page's address, you can use the model of the lines above to create custom link lines from scratch. put your own link address and label in the position of those above. there is an additional set of file management functions you can perform on the files in your home directory from within lynx. when in your directory using lynx, hit the "f" key. this brings up a menu of file management operations which can be chosen to perform on the file on which the cursor resides. most of them are apparent from their names, while others may not be familiar to you. i would suggest only using those functions which are obvious, such as renaming, removing, moving, etc operations. because any subdirectories also appear in your home directory, you can select the name for it and do the same kinds of viewing, editing, and file management functions there as well. i would suggest setting up a test file on which you can practice these file management functions to confirm what action each menu item performs. that's all for this tip. regards, dan dunfee ---------- End of Document