Re: lynx-dev unanswered queries (1) follow-up

[Doug Kaufman]

On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Philip Webb wrote:

> no-one else offered help, so i contacted the site myself:
> 
> > i visited your site today & found i was prevented from buying software
> > due to a screen which came up telling me my browser was not configured
> > to accept or handle cookies.  i use Lynx 2-8, which is fully upto-date
> > & most certainly IS capable of handling cookies within a session,
> > which your screen reassures me is all you need.
> ... 
> Nate replied:
> 
> > I'm sorry for the inconvenience.  The problem may be you need a browser
> > that supports the SSL protocol as well as cookies to use our site.
> > Unfortunately Lynx does not support the SSL protocol
> > and cannot be used to purchase software from us.  
> ... 
> i tried again:
> 
> > you are quite wrong to suppose Lynx does not support SSL,
> > tho' in my own case i have not taken the trouble to compile it in,
> > since it involves extra work & i myself have no need for it.
> > however, the other lady does have SSL compiled into her Lynx,
> > so she should have had no problem on that score.
> 
> > you have strengthened my guess that the problem lies in a false assumption
> > that Lynx does not support upto-date protocols,
> > so that somewhere in your site -- presumably CGI -- there is something
> > which calls up your negative screen message simply because it sees `Lynx'.
> > if that is in fact the problem, you really should change it:
> > you are losing customers & causing problems for the disabled.

I do have SSL enabled with lynx. I checked out the site and your
assumption is correct. The screen comes up from the cgi script when lynx
is found as the user agent. When I change the User Agent to Mozilla/4.0,
the https connection is made without any trouble. They are excluding by
the name "lynx" rather than by any test of the abilities of the browser.
They need to change their cgi script. In the meantime, the workaround is
to have lynx lie about its identity.
                             Doug

__
Doug Kaufman
Internet: address@hidden (preferred)
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