Re: lynx-dev Link numbering and keypad mode

[Laura Eaves]

> Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 11:57:15 -0800
> From: Kim DeVaughn <address@hidden>
>...
> Is anyone besides myself annoyed at the coupling between link and/or
> form field [numbering], and keypad key usage as either numbers or
> arrows?
>
> These are two distinctly different things, and I can see no good
> reason for one to affect the other.

I have to confess I've wondered the same thing.  When I added form field
numbering 2 years ago I made it a keypad option and left the rest unchanged
for backward compatibility.  (I had some trouble convincing the powers htat be
that form field numbering was useful, and didn'twant to make too dramatic of a
change.)
Changing the behavior the way you suggest would slightly
alter the code but would also require some rewriting of the User's Guide.
So we're probably stuck with the current behavior for historical reasons.

> BTW, the reason the coupling annoys me, is that sometimes I run
> with numbering turned on, but I still hit the "Home"/"End" keys to
> take me to the top/bottom of the document (habit, plus it's much
> easier than remerbering/hitting ^A/^E to do the job).

FWIW I've never gotten Home/End to wrok; ^A /^E are the only alternatives.

> Also, FWIW, "link numbering" is currently always "on" ... you can
> enter numbers and goto/activate a link (though not a form field)
> regardless of whether one of the "numbered" options is on or not;
> a behavior that doesn't necessarily *need* to be changed, but one
> that *could* cause confusion to some users.

Note that if link numbering is turned off a user can still
find the internal link numbering by looking at hte L-page.
For this reason, Fote added the ability to select a link by number when
keypad mode is numbers-as-arrows.  It requires preceding hte number by 0
which isn't bound to a navigation command.
--le