Re: lynx-dev short_url option (was Re: lynx2.8.3dev.5)

[Klaus Weide]

On Mon, 2 Aug 1999, Eduardo Chappa L. wrote:

> *** address@hidden (address@hidden) wrote on Aug 1, 1999:
> 
> :) 
> :) Is this right?
> :) -more- ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/net/infosys/lynx/___/index.html
> :) -more- http://www.flora.org/lynx-dev/html/month___/msg00529.html
> 
>   No, if the complete URL fits in the whole line then it should not cut
> it. I checked both addresses and they should fit in the line. I guess it
> was part of the bug I mentioned before (?)
> 
> :) 
> :) IMHO, this feature is very nice, but makes some confusion.  I
> :) can't distinguaish between elided too long URL and real "___"
> :) characters in URL, until press "=" key.  ;)
> :) 
> 
>   Yes, it's true that no warning is made about a trimmed URL, which is not
> nice. On the other hand my original purpose was not to show the whole URL,
> which is not possible, just the relevant parts of it. There are some
> solutions to this, either you have to warn people that what they are
> reading is possibly not the whole url, make it configurable (user defines
> the separation string), change the default character '_' by a space (so no
> confusion is possible, and is easy to distinguish) or use any other
> character you think unlikely (like \, ;, ", $, #, etc). In my opinion a
> character that does not interfere the reaading should be used (_ or . where
> my first choices). Feel free to change the complete string to anything you
> like.

I think (now) that the character should be ".", and also, if at possible,
that it showuld be displayed with both preceding and following separators
displayed.  I.e. "/.../" should appear if possible in the place where a
part has been removed.  IMO this would make things most obvious, and
a real occurrence of "/.../" in a URL is very unlikely.  A space character
wouldn't be good - sometimes they can appear in URLs (especially in
the #fragment part), whether that's strictly valid or not.  And space
would be a very unusual way for indicating that something has been
omitted.

   Klaus