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Grex > Coop12 > #65: Updating the Lynx page on Grex | |
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keesan
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Updating the Lynx page on Grex
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Nov 20 15:06 UTC 2001 |
The page that you get when you type Lynx without a URL following it, while
dialed or telnetted into grex, was written in 1998 and the links need
updating badly. Please check it out and report dead links here or
directly to webmaster@grex.org (Steve Weiss). He has fixed up the Ann
Arbor Area page - any suggestions what else to add? WWW Starting Points
links are mostly dead and need replacing. Somewhere there is an outdated
list of search engines (I cannot even find it again) - what should be on
it and where should the link to it be? Please specify the exact URL of
pages you are commenting on. Steve is doing a super job on the updating
but cannot do it all without user input.
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| 52 responses total. |
remmers
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response 1 of 52:
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Nov 20 15:59 UTC 2001 |
An alternative to that would be to eliminate the special "lynx
home page" altogether and just make lynx's default page
"http://cyberspace.org".
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keesan
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response 2 of 52:
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Nov 20 17:28 UTC 2001 |
But the purpose of the lynx home page is to teach people how to use the web.
There is a lot of useful information on the lynx home page, but also a lot
of outdated links. I followed instructions and notified webmaster of a few
and webmaster (Steve) said he could not possibly take care of it all himself
and asked for help. For instance all but two of the gopher links on one page
are dead. There are some shared pages between the lynx home page and the grex
general home page.
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cmcgee
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response 3 of 52:
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Nov 20 20:39 UTC 2001 |
Ditch it and start over. Put together something designed for what's currently
the best sources of information, not gopher pages. Make it useable for
someone with a Kurzweil machine.
But don't try to patch the old one. Rethink something sensible, not what was
sensible 10 years ago.
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keesan
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response 4 of 52:
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Nov 20 20:49 UTC 2001 |
3 years ago. Do you want to put in the time to create something entirely new?
Steve was hoping to get some help updating the current pages. I will continue
checking for dead links but don't know enough about the web to suggest
replacements. The www.grex.org page is not something suitable for use as a
start page for lynx as it is designed for people who are not telnetted or
dialed to grex and want to use backtalk or read about grex, not read about
lynx.
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janc
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response 5 of 52:
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Nov 20 21:23 UTC 2001 |
I think the concept was supposed to be a "lynx shell". You were supposed to
be able to use it as an alternative to the menu shell. I've never spent a
lot of time looking at it.
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keesan
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response 6 of 52:
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Nov 21 00:18 UTC 2001 |
I got there when I was first trying to learn to use a browser, by typing lynx.
It was obviously intended as an educational tool and Steve Weiss says Rob Argy
put a lot of time into it. But the web changes rapidly and the links are no
longer linked to much. Simply reporting broken links would be helpful, and
suggesting better one more helpful yet.
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micklpkl
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response 7 of 52:
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Nov 21 05:48 UTC 2001 |
I'd be willing to check for dead links and such, and possible make a few
suggestions. Is there a direct URL to get to this page *without* using lynx?
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remmers
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response 8 of 52:
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Nov 21 13:05 UTC 2001 |
Yes. Go to http://cyberspace.org/m_homepage.html
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saw
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response 9 of 52:
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Nov 22 00:09 UTC 2001 |
Well, this item is rather small (and trivial to fix) but I figured I
would mention it just for sanity's sake. On the Grex WWW FAQ (wwwfaq.html)
question #6 ( http://www.cyberspace.org/local/grex/wwwfaq.html#q6 ) there
needs to be an s/allow/allowed/ done there. :)
(For the non-Unix types, that means "allow" needs to be changed to
"allowed" there.)
<saw has a feeling that the Grex WWW FAQ was created late at night, as
many of his pages are.> :)
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janc
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response 10 of 52:
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Nov 22 21:06 UTC 2001 |
I have the vague idea that Carl Miller was behind a lot of the lynx shell
pages, but I could be confused. Didn't think it was Rob Argy. Before my time
either way.
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robh
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response 11 of 52:
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Nov 23 23:02 UTC 2001 |
(There might have been some other Rob who worked on the pages
after Carl Miller stopped, too.)
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janc
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response 12 of 52:
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Nov 24 01:26 UTC 2001 |
Oh yeah, Rob Henderson did a mess of work on those. Hi Rob.
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saw
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response 13 of 52:
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Nov 26 22:01 UTC 2001 |
Okay, I'll go ahead and lay this on the table for everyone to see.
It's already been established that we either need to "fix" this set, or
create a whole new set of pages.
If it's decided we should create a new set (which may not hurt - as it will
give things a new look) then I'm willing to take up that project.
My very first home page was actually designed and tested under Lynx - as
that was the only 'net access I had at the time. I know HTML fairly well,
but not Java / JavaScript, which doesn't matter since this is Lynx. :) (I
do know PHP, but that's not an issue here.)
So, if we want to start with a new set, I'm willing to do that. Someone
just needs to send me the information on how/where to publish/put them,
etc. and I'll see what I can do. :)
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other
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response 14 of 52:
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Nov 26 22:05 UTC 2001 |
If you want to just put the pages in your home directory and post a link
here, I'm sure someone will look them over and proceed from there.
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keesan
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response 15 of 52:
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Nov 26 23:20 UTC 2001 |
The idea was that various people would offer suggestions for improvement, not
completely replace what was there, much of which is still useful. Some pages
might need replacing and some updating.
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other
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response 16 of 52:
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Nov 27 00:24 UTC 2001 |
If someone wants to write new pages, they are welcome to do so, and some
or all of what they write may be used. There is no reason to discourage
contribution of effort.
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cmcgee
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response 17 of 52:
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Nov 27 01:55 UTC 2001 |
Sindi, unless you are going to do the project yourself, please don't tell
other people how to go about it. You can usefully suggest improvements,
which the person can accept or reject. But you can't direct the project.
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janc
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response 18 of 52:
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Nov 27 03:39 UTC 2001 |
I'm all for having someone redo the pages.
Worthwhile things to think about: As I said before, if I'm not confusing them
with something else, then these pages were designed to be a "lynx shell".
It's actually one of the login shell options offered by the newuser program.
You log in and you are running lynx, you do Grex stuff by following links.
Lynx has ways to directly execute commands, so it can launch bbs when you
follow a link to the conferences (I've never looked at it, but I assume it
does this instead of running backtalk because it predates backtalk).
So this is not an ordinary set of web pages meant to be browsed remotely over
the web using Netscape. It's specifically for using with lynx from Grex,
though of course some of the pages are shared with our regular web site.
One thing worth checking is if anyone is actually using the lynx shell.
Maybe it's not an idea worth preserving. Maybe the menu shell is a better
idea. Before anyone spends a lot of time on the project, we should assess
if it is really useful. (Of course, if we have a volunteer who thinks it is
so useful that they want to do it, then it doesn't matter if I think it may
be a waste of time - so long as it ain't my time.)
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keesan
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response 19 of 52:
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Nov 27 03:40 UTC 2001 |
Steve Weiss, who is webmaster, said he wanted to just update the pages, not
replace them. Argue with him, not me. I told him I could find dead links
but did not know enough to suggest good new ones and asked whether to post
this in coop. He said yes. I found him two new links for the Ann Arbor page
(www.ann-arbor.com and a working weather site for Washtenaw county). And
listed a bunch of broken gopher links and a few other things. He has probably
fixed these by now (deleted them).
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keesan
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response 20 of 52:
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Nov 27 03:43 UTC 2001 |
Jan was writing at the same time I was. What do you mean by lynx shell?
I use csh. To browse I type lynx and I get that page. When I was a new user
I tried to follow links there and got confused because so many of them did
not work and I did not run across any search engine links. (I think they are
actually in there, somewhere).
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remmers
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response 21 of 52:
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Nov 27 11:40 UTC 2001 |
When you run "newuser", "lynx" is one of the things you can choose
as your login shell. If you do that, lynx is run automatically
when you log in, instead of your having to invoke it manually.
When somebody brings up an idea in a public forum, it's apt to
inspire new ideas, some of which just might possibly be better
than the original. The last thing I'd want to do is discourage
this process. If somebody wants to try designing a new set of
local lynx pages, more power to 'em. If somebody else wants to
fix the current ones, more power to them as well. I don't see
how Grex could come out the loser from being able to choose
between two alternatives.
Steve Weiss -- who's doing an excellent job as webmaster, in my
opinion -- has as much access to this item as anyone else and
can argue here if he chooses. My suspicion is, though, that he
wouldn't dispute what I've just said.
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keesan
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response 22 of 52:
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Nov 27 16:09 UTC 2001 |
I asked him to look at this item. He says he has more time on weekends.
By running lynx automatically, do you mean you dial in and end up at the lynx
home page on grex?
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remmers
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response 23 of 52:
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Nov 27 16:38 UTC 2001 |
Yes.
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keesan
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response 24 of 52:
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Nov 27 18:40 UTC 2001 |
You can also get to the page if you sign up for csh and type m for menu and
x for lynx.
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