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<TITLE>Help on the Follow link (or page) number feature</TITLE>
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<h1>+++ Follow link (or goto link or page) number Help +++<br>
+++ Select option (or page) number Help +++</h1>
If a user has set <em>Keypad mode</em> to <em>Links are numbered</em>
or <em>Links and form fields are numbered</em> as the default or for
the current session via the <em>Options menu</em>, then hypertext links
(and form fields, depending on the keypad mode)
are prefixed with numbers in square brackets. Entering a keyboard
or keypad number is treated as an <em>F_LINK_NUM</em> command, and should
invoke the <em>Follow link (or goto link or page) number:</em> statusline
prompt for a
potentially multiple digit number corresponding to an indicated link
number. If RETURN is pressed to terminate the number entry (e.g.,
<em>123</em>) and it corresponds to a hypertext link, Lynx will retrieve
the document for that link as if you had paged or used other navigation
commands to make it the current link and then ACTIVATE-ed it. The prompt
can be invoked via '<em>0</em>', but it will not be treated as the lead
digit for the number entry, whereas '<em>1</em>' through '<em>9</em>' both
invoke the prompt and are treated as the first digit. In <em>Links and
form fields are numbered</em> mode, if the number corresponds to a form
field you will be positioned on that field, but if it is a submit button
it will not be ACTIVATE-ed.
<p>If the number entered at the prompt has a '<em>g</em>' suffix (e.g.,
<em>123g</em>), then Lynx will make the link corresponding to that number
the current link, paging as appropriate if the link does not appear in
the currently displayed page. The '<em>g</em>' suffix is implied (need
not be entered) for form fields in <em>Links and form fields are
numbered</em> mode.
<p>Alternatively, if the number is given a '<em>p</em>' suffix (e.g.,
<em>123p</em>), Lynx will make the page corresponding to that number
the currently displayed page, and the first link on that page, if any,
the current link. The '<em>g</em>' and '<em>p</em>' suffixes thus
convert the
<em>Follow link (or goto link or page) number:</em> feature to an advanced
navigation aid.
<p>If the user has set <em>Keypad mode</em> to <em>Numbers act as arrows</em>,
then only '<em>0</em>', rather than every number, will be treated as an
<em>F_LINK_NUM</em> command for invoking the <em>Follow link (or goto link or page)
number:</em> prompt. The '<em>0</em>' will not be treated as the first
digit for the number, or number plus suffix, entry.
<p>Numbers are associated with form fields only when <em>Links and form
fields are numbered</em> mode has been selected. If you have selected
<em>Numbers act as arrows</em> or <em>Links are numbered</em> mode, you
can seek form fields in the document via WHEREIS searches for strings in
their displayed values. If they are INPUT or TEXTAREA fields with no
values as yet, you can use two or more underscores as the search string,
because underscores are used as placeholders for form fields in the
displayed document.
<p ID="select-option">When you have invoked a popup window for a list of
OPTIONs in a form's SELECT block, each OPTION is associated with a number,
and that number will be displayed in <em>Links and form fields are
numbered</em> mode. In any keypad mode, the <em>F_LINK_NUM</em>
('<em>0</em>') command will invoke a <em>Select option (or page)
number:</em> prompt, and you can enter a number, and optionally a
'<em>g</em>' or '<em>p</em>' suffix, to select or seek an OPTION in that
list. If only an number is entered at the prompt, the corresponding OPTION
will be selected and the popup will be retracted. If the '<em>g</em>'
suffix is included, then you will be positioned on the corresponding OPTION
in the list, paging through the list if necessary, but it will not be
treated as selected unless you enter the ACTIVATE (RETURN or right-arrow)
command when positioned on the OPTION. For purposes of paging (e.g., in
conjunction with the '<em>p</em>' suffix), a <em>page</em> is defined as
the number of OPTIONs displayed within the vertical dimension of the popup
window.
<p>Note that HTML can be structured so that it includes <em>hidden
links</em>, i.e., without a visible link name intended for ACTIVATE-ing
the link. Such links may be created, for example, by making an IMG element
the sole content of an Anchor element, and including an ALT="" attribute
name/value pair to suppress access to the link when the browser does not
have support for image handling available. They also can be created by
having truly empty Anchor content, in cases for which the value of an
Anchor's HREF attribute is intended as a navigation aid for robots
(typically indexers) and not as content for a browser's rendition of the
document. With the <em>-ismap</em> command line switch, Lynx will
additionally treat a link to a server-side image maps as hidden if
there also is a client-side map for the same image.
Finally, in some cases links which are not intended to be hidden
may effectively become <em>hidden links</em> because of bad HTML.
The <em>hidden links</em> differ from Anchors which have only a
NAME or ID attribute name/value pair (intended as positioning targets from
other links which do have HREF attributes and values that include a
fragment).
<p>Lynx respects instructions for <em>hidden links</em> and normally does
not include them in the rendition of the document. However, if the command
line switch <em>-hiddenlinks=merge</em> is used, such links will still be
numbered in sequence with other links which are not hidden, and if <em>Links
are numbered</em> mode is also on, link numbers will appear for them in the
displayed text (except for links to image maps which are hidden because of
<em>-ismap</em>). If <em>-hiddenlinks=listonly</em> or
<em>-hiddenlinks=ignore</em> is in effect, <em>hidden links</em> will not be
shown in the text even in <em>links are numbered</em> mode. Not using a
<em>-hiddenlinks</em> flag at all is equivalent to
<em>-hiddenlinks=listonly</em>.
<p>If a document includes
<em>hidden links</em>, they will be reported, with appropriate labeling,
in the menu created for the LIST ('<em>l</em>') command,
unless <em>-hiddenlinks=ignore</em> is used. They can then be
ACTIVATE-ed via that menu. Also, if a link was hidden due to an ALT
attribute in an IMG element, it will be converted to a <em>visible link</em>
whenever the IMAGE_TOGGLE ('<em>*</em>') command is used to create links
for SRC attritute values of IMG elements, because this indicates that the
user does have some form of image handling enabled via a helper application,
or wishes to download files for subsequent use with a graphic browsers or
other suitable software.
<p>HTML forms also can have fields with a HIDDEN attribute, indicating that
a name/value pair for the fields should be included in the content submitted
for the form, but the value should not be displayed in the rendered form.
Lynx respects this attribute as well, and neither displays the HIDDEN field,
nor assigns it a number for the F_LINK_NUM ('<em>0</em>') command and
<em>Links and form fields are numbered</em> keypad mode handling, nor
includes an entry for it in the menu created for the LIST ('<em>l</em>')
command. However, the HIDDEN name/value pairs are included in any displays
of submitted form content in the <em>Information about the current
document</em> that is invoked by the INFO ('<em>=</em>') command.
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