Form-based Options Menu : Help

The Options Menu allows you to set and modify many + Lynx features.
+ Lynx's Options Menu is grouped visually + (by skipping a line) into sections. This description follows the + same arrangement. Some options appear on the screen only if they + have been compiled in or chosen in + lynx.cfg.

Options Menu
+ General Preferences +
- User Mode
- Editor
- Type of Search
+
+ Security and Privacy +
- Cookies
- Invalid-Cookie Prompting
- SSL Prompting
+
+ Keyboard Input +
- Keypad mode
- Emacs keys
- VI keys
- Line edit style
+
+ Display and Character Set +
- Use locale-based character set
- Use HTML5 charset replacements
- Display Character set
- Assumed document character set
- Raw 8-bit or CJK mode
- X DISPLAY variable
+
+ Document Appearance +
- Show color
- Color style
- Default colors
- Show cursor for current link or + option
- Underline links
- Show scrollbar
- Pop-ups for select fields
- HTML error recovery
- Bad HTML messages
- Show Images
- Verbose Images
+
+ Headers Transferred to Remote Servers +
- Personal mail address
- Personal name for mail
- Password for anonymous ftp
- Preferred media type
- Preferred encoding
- Preferred Document Charset
- Preferred Document Language
- Send User-Agent header
- User Agent
+
+ Listing and Accessing Files +
- Use Passive FTP
- FTP sort criteria
- Local directory sort criteria
- Local directory sort order
- Show dot files
- Pause when showing message
- Execution links
- Show transfer rate
+
Special Files and Screens +
- Multi-bookmarks
- Bookmark file
- Auto Session
- Session file
- Visited Pages
+

General Preferences

User Mode

Editor

This is the editor to be invoked when editing browsable files, + sending mail or comments, or filling form's textarea (multiline + input field). The full pathname of the editor command should be + specified when possible. It is assumed the text editor supports + the same character set you have for "display character set" in + Lynx.

Type of Search

This allows you to tell Lynx whether to search the current + document ignoring case (case insensitive) or not.

Security and Privacy

This can be set to accept or reject all cookies or to ask each + time. See the Users Guide for details of cookie usage.

Invalid-Cookie Prompting

SSL Prompting

Keyboard Input

Keypad mode

This gives the choice between navigating with the keypad (as + arrows; see Lynx Navigation) and having every link numbered + (numbered links) so that the links may be selected by numbers + instead of moving to them with the arrow keys. You can also + number form fields.

Emacs keys

If set to “ON” then the CTRL-P, CTRL-N, CTRL-F and + CTRL-B keys will be mapped to up-arrow, down-arrow, right-arrow + and left-arrow respectively. Otherwise, they remain mapped to + their configured bindings (normally UP_TWO lines, DOWN_TWO lines, + NEXT_PAGE and PREV_PAGE respectively).

VI keys

If set to “ON” then the lowercase h, j, k and l + keys will be mapped to left-arrow, down-arrow, up-arrow and + right-arrow respectively.

The uppercase H, J, K, and L keys remain mapped to their + configured bindings (normally HELP, JUMP, KEYMAP and LIST, + respectively).

Line edit style

This allows you to set alternate key bindings for the built-in + line editor, if Alternate + Bindings have been installed. Otherwise, Lynx uses the + Default Binding.

Display and Character Set

Use locale-based character set

This option allows you to request lynx to obtain a MIME name + from the operating system which corresponds to your locale + setting. If successful, it overrides the normal setting of the + display character set.

Use HTML5 charset replacements

This option allows lynx to treat pages with ISO-8859-1 + (Latin1) or ASCII encoding as if they were Windows 1252. That + allows a few punctuation characters to be shown.

Display Character set

This allows you to set up the default character set for your + specific terminal. The display character set provides a mapping + from the character encodings of viewed documents and from HTML + entities into viewable characters. It should be set according to + your terminal's character set so that characters other than 7-bit + ASCII can be displayed correctly, using approximations if + necessary, try the test here.

Assumed document character set

This changes the handling of documents which do not explicitly + specify a charset. Normally Lynx assumes that 8-bit characters in + those documents are encoded according to iso-8859-1 (the official + default for HTTP protocol). Unfortunately, many non-English web + pages forget to include proper charset info; this option helps + you browse those broken pages if you know somehow what the + charset is. When the value given here or by an -assume_charset + command-line flag is in effect, Lynx will treat documents as if + they were encoded accordingly. Option is active when “Raw + 8-bit or CJK Mode” is OFF.

Raw 8-bit or CJK mode

This is set automatically, but can be toggled manually in + certain cases: it toggles whether 8-bit characters are assumed to + correspond with the display character set and therefore are + processed without translation via the chartrans conversion + tables. ON by default when the display character set is one of + the Asian (CJK) sets and the 8-bit characters are Kanji + multibytes. OFF for the other display character sets, but can be + turned ON when the document's charset is unknown (e.g., is not + ISO-8859-1 and no charset parameter was specified in a reply + header from an HTTP server to indicate what it is), but you have + no better idea than viewing it as from display character set (see + “assumed document character set” for best choice). + Should be OFF when an Asian (CJK) set is selected but the + document is ISO-8859-1 or another “assumed document + character set”. The setting can also be toggled via the + RAW_TOGGLE command, normally mapped to “@”, and at + startup via the -raw switch.

X DISPLAY variable

This option is only relevant to X Window users. It specifies + the DISPLAY (Unix) or DECW$DISPLAY (VMS) variable. It is picked + up automatically from the environment if it has been previously + set.

Document Appearance

Show color

If Lynx is built with slang, this is equivalent to having + included the -color command line switch or having the COLORTERM + environment variable set. If color support is provided by curses + or ncurses, this is equivalent to the default behavior of using + color when the terminal type supports it. If (n)curses color + support is available but cannot be used for the current terminal + type, the preference can still be saved but will have no + effect.

A saved value of NEVER will cause Lynx to assume a monochrome + terminal at start-up. It is similar to the -nocolor switch, but + (when the slang library is used) can be overridden with the + -color switch. If the setting is OFF or ON when the current + options are saved to a “.lynxrc” file, the default + start-up behavior is retained, such that color mode will be + turned on at startup only if the terminal info indicates that you + have a color-capable terminal, or (when slang is used) if forced + on via the -color switch or COLORTERM variable. This default + behavior always is used in anonymous accounts, or if the + “option”_save restriction is set explicitly. If for + any reason the start-up color mode is incorrect for your + terminal, set it appropriately on or off via this option.

Color style

At startup, Lynx identifies the available color-style + configuration files in the same directory as its default ".lss" + file. At runtime, you can switch between these files using this + options-menu feature.

Default colors

Depending on the default foreground and background colors + which your terminal uses, some color-styles would look better if + Lynx did not use those in combination with the style for the + background. Use this option to enable/disable the default-color + feature.

Show cursor for current link or + option

Lynx normally hides the cursor by positioning it to the right + and if possible the very bottom of the screen, so that the + current link or OPTION is indicated solely by its highlighting or + color. If show cursor is set to ON, the cursor will be positioned + at the left of the current link or OPTION. This is helpful when + Lynx is being used with a speech or braille interface. It is also + useful for sighted users when the terminal cannot distinguish the + character attributes used to distinguish the current link or + OPTION from the others in the display.

Underline links

Show scrollbar

This allows you to enable (show) or disable (hide) the + scrollbar on the right-margin of the display. This feature is + available with ncurses or slang libraries.

Pop-ups for select fields

Lynx normally uses a pop-up window for the OPTIONs in form + SELECT fields when the field does not have the MULTIPLE attribute + specified, and thus only one OPTION can be selected. The use of + pop-up windows can be disabled by changing this setting to OFF, + in which case the OPTIONs will be rendered as a list of radio + buttons. Note that if the SELECT field does have the MULTIPLE + attribute specified, the OPTIONs always are rendered as a list of + checkboxes.

HTML error recovery

Lynx often has to deal with invalid HTML markup. It always + tries to recover from errors, but there is no universally correct + way for doing this. As a result, there are two parsing modes: + "SortaSGML" attempts to enforce valid nesting of most + tags at an earlier stage of processing, while + "TagSoup" relies more on the HTML rendering stage to + mimic the behavior of some other browsers. You can also switch + between these modes with the CTRL-V key, and the default can be + changed in lynx.cfg or with the -tagsoup command line switch.

The "SortaSGML" mode will often appear to be more strict, and + makes some errors apparent that are otherwise unnoticeable. One + particular difference is the handling of block elements or + <li>..</li> inside <a + HREF="some.url">..</a>. Invalid nesting like this may + turn anchors into hidden links which cannot be easily followed, + this is avoided in "TagSoup" mode. See the help on following links by number for more + information on hidden links. Often pages may be more readable in + "TagSoup" mode, but sometimes the opposite is true. Most + documents with valid HTML, and documents with only minor errors, + should be rendered the same way in both modes.

If you are curious about what goes on behind the scenes, but + find that the information from the -trace switch is just too + much, Lynx can be started with the -preparsed switch; going into + SOURCE mode (“\” key) and toggling the parsing mode + (with CTRL-V) should then show some of the differences.

Bad HTML messages

Show Images

This option setting cannot be saved between sessions. See + Users Guide & + lynx.cfg for more details.

Verbose Images

This allows you to replace [LINK], [INLINE] and [IMAGE] + — for images without ALT — with filenames: this can + be helpful by revealing which images are important & which + are merely decoration, e.g. button.gif, + line.gif. See Users Guide & + lynx.cfg for more details.

Headers Transferred to Remote + Servers

Personal Mail Address

You may set your mail address here so that when mailing + messages to other people or mailing files to yourself, your email + address can be automatically filled in. Your email address will + also be sent to HTTP servers in a “from:” field.

Personal mail name

This mail name will be included as the "X-Personal_Name" field + in any mail or comments that you send if that header has not been + disabled via the NO_ANONYMOUS_EMAIL definition in + lynx.cfg.

Password for anonymous ftp

If this is blank, Lynx will use your personal mail address as + the anonymous ftp password. Though that is the convention, some + users prefer to use some other string which provides less + information. If the given value lacks a "@", Lynx also will use + your computer's hostname as part of the password. If both this + field and the personal mail address are blank, Lynx will use your + $USER environment variable, or "WWWuser" if even the environment + variable is unset.

Preferred media type

When doing a GET, lynx lists the MIME types which it knows how + to present (the "Accept:" string). Depending on your system + configuration, the mime.types or other data given by the + GLOBAL_EXTENSION_MAP may include many entries that lynx really + does not handle. Use this option to select one of the built-in + subsets of the MIME types that lynx could list in the Accept.

Preferred encoding

When doing a GET, lynx tells what types of compressed data it + can decompress (the "Accept-Encoding:" string). This is + determined by compiled-in support for decompression or external + decompression programs. Use this option to select none, one or + all of the supported decompression types.

Preferred Document Charset

The character set you prefer if sets in addition to ISO-8859-1 + and US-ASCII are available from servers. Use MIME notation (e.g., + ISO-8859-2) and do not include ISO-8859-1 or US-ASCII, since + those values are always assumed by default. Can be a + comma-separated list, which may be interpreted by servers as + descending order of preferences; you can make your order of + preference explicit by using “q factors” as defined + by the HTTP protocol, for servers which understand it: e.g., + iso-8859-5, utf-8;q=0.8.

Preferred Document Language

The language you prefer if multi-language files are available + from servers. Use RFC 1766 tags, e.g., “en” English, + “fr” French. Can be a comma-separated list, and you + can use “q factors” (see previous help item): e.g., + da, en-gb;q=0.8, en;q=0.7 .

Send User-Agent header

User Agent header

The header string which Lynx sends to servers to indicate the + User-Agent is displayed here. Changes may be disallowed via the + -restrictions switch. Otherwise, the header can be changed + temporarily to e.g., L_y_n_x/2.8.3 for access to sites which + discriminate against Lynx based on checks for the presence of + “Lynx” in the header. If changed during a Lynx + session, the default User-Agent header can be restored by + deleting the modified string in the Options Menu. Whenever the + User-Agent header is changed, the current document is reloaded, + with the no-cache flags set, on exit from Options Menu. Changes + of the header are not saved in the .lynxrc file.

Caveat: Netscape Communications Corp. (for example) claimed + that false transmissions of “Mozilla” as the + User-Agent are a copyright infringement, which would be + prosecuted. The Options Menu issues a warning about + possible copyright infringement whenever the header is changed to + one which does not include Lynx or + lynx.

Listing and Accessing Files

Use Passive FTP

FTP sort criteria

This allows you to specify how files will be sorted within FTP + listings. The current options include + “By Filename”, “By Size”, + “By Type”, “By Date”.

List directory style

Applies to Directory Editing. Files and directories can be + presented in the following ways:

Local directory sort order

Show dot files

If display/creation of hidden (dot) files/directories is + enabled, you can turn the feature on or off via this setting.

Pause when showing message

If set to "off", this overrides the INFOSECS setting in + lynx.cfg, to eliminate pauses when displaying informational + messages, like the "-nopause" command line option.

Execution links

If set to “ALWAYS ON”, Lynx will locally execute + commands contained inside any links. This can be HIGHLY + DANGEROUS, so it is recommended that they remain + “ALWAYS OFF” or “FOR LOCAL FILES + ONLY”.

Show transfer rate

This allows you to select the way in which Lynx shows its + progress in downloading large pages. It displays its progress in + the status line. These are the available selections:

Multi-bookmarks

Bookmark file

The filepaths must be from your home directory and begin with + “./” if subdirectories are included (e.g., + “./BM/lynx_bookmarks.html”).

Lynx will create bookmark files when you first + “a”dd a link, but any subdirectories in the filepath + must already exist.

Auto Session

Lynx can save and restore useful information about your + browsing history. Use this setting to enable or disable the + feature.

Session file

Define the file name where lynx will store user sessions. This + setting is used only when Auto Session is enabled.

Visited Pages

This allows you to change the appearance of the Visited Links Page Normally it shows a + list, in reverse order of the pages visited. The popup menu + allows you these choices: