Editing Lynx (web browser) (section)

==Features==
[[File:Lynx vs. Firefox rendering.png|thumb|Lynx and [[Mozilla Firefox|Firefox]] rendering the same page]]
Browsing in Lynx consists of highlighting the chosen link using cursor keys, or having all links on a page numbered and entering the chosen link's number.{{sfn|User's Guide}} Current versions support [[Secure Sockets Layer|SSL]]{{sfn|Legan|2001}} and many [[HTML]] features. Tables are formatted using spaces, while frames are identified by name and can be explored as if they were separate pages. Lynx is not inherently able to display various types of non-text content on the web, such as images and video,{{sfn|Rakitin|1997}} but it can launch external programs to handle it, such as an image viewer or a video player.{{sfn|User's Guide}}

Unlike most web browsers, Lynx does not support [[JavaScript]], which many websites require to work correctly.{{sfn|Wallen|2011}}

The speed benefits of text-only browsing are most apparent when using low bandwidth internet connections,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-18 |title=What is Lynx, and how do I use it? |url=https://kb.iu.edu/d/afik |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=[[Indiana University]] |archive-date=2022-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915232646/https://kb.iu.edu/d/afik |url-status=live }}</ref> or older computer hardware that may be slow to render image-heavy content.

===Privacy===
Because Lynx does not support graphics, [[web bug]]s that track user information are not fetched, meaning that web pages can be read without the privacy concerns of graphic web browsers.{{sfn|Legan|2002}} However, Lynx does support [[HTTP cookie]]s,{{sfn|Rakitin|1997}} which can also be used to track user information. Lynx therefore supports cookie [[whitelist]]ing and [[blacklist]]ing, or alternatively cookie support can be disabled permanently.{{sfn|User's Guide}}

As with conventional browsers, Lynx also supports browsing histories and page caching,{{sfn|Senjen|Guthrey|1996|pp=136-139}} both of which can raise privacy concerns.{{sfn|Timmer|2010}}

===Configurability===
Lynx supports both command-line options and configuration files. There are 142 command-line options according to its help message. The template configuration file <code>lynx.cfg</code> lists 233 configurable features. There is some overlap between the two approaches to configuration, although there are command-line options such as <code>-restrict</code> which are not matched in <code>lynx.cfg</code>. In addition to pre-set options by command-line and configuration file, Lynx's behavior can be adjusted at runtime using its options menu. Again, there is some overlap between the settings. Lynx implements many of these runtime optional features, optionally (controlled through a setting in the configuration file) allowing the choices to be saved to a separate writable configuration file. The reason for restricting the options which can be saved originated in a usage of Lynx which was more common in the mid-1990s, i.e., using Lynx itself as a front-end application to the Internet accessed by dial-in connections.{{sfn|Help file}}{{sfn|Configuration file}}{{sfn|User's Guide}}

===Accessibility===
Because Lynx is a text-based browser, it can be used for internet access by visually impaired users on a [[refreshable braille display]] and is easily compatible with [[text-to-speech]] software.{{sfn|Paciello|2000|p=157}}{{sfn|Bolso|2005}}{{sfn|Seltzer|1995}} As Lynx substitutes images, frames and other non-textual content with the text from <code>alt</code>, <code>name</code> and <code>title</code> [[HTML attribute]]s{{sfn|RNIB|2011}} and allows hiding the [[user interface]] elements,{{sfn|Rosmaita|1996}} the browser becomes specifically suitable for use with cost-effective general purpose screen reading software.{{sfn|Dixon|2004}}{{sfn|Rosmaita}}{{sfn|Sajka|1999}} A version of Lynx specifically enhanced for use with screen readers on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] was developed at [[Indian Institute of Technology Madras]].{{sfn|Achraya|2006}}

===Remote access===
Lynx is  also useful for accessing websites from a remotely connected system in which no graphical display is available.{{sfn|Wayner|2010}}{{sfn|Chapman|2003}}{{sfn|Killelea|2002|p=9}} Despite its text-only nature and age, it can still be used to effectively browse much of the modern web, including performing interactive tasks such as editing [[Wikipedia]].{{sfn|Senjen|Guthrey|1996|pp=136-139}}{{sfn|Killelea|2002|pp=60-61}}{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=225-227}}

===Web design and robots===
Since Lynx will take keystrokes from a text file, it is still very useful for automated data entry, web page navigation, and [[web scraping]]. Consequently, Lynx is used in some web crawlers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blog::Quibb » Crawling the Web With Lynx |url=https://blog.quibb.org/2010/11/crawling-the-web-with-lynx/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |language=en}}</ref> Web designers may use Lynx to determine the way in which search engines and web crawlers see the sites that they develop.{{sfn|King|2008|pp=44-46}}{{sfn|Bartlett|2006}}{{sfn|Rognerud|2010|p=187}} Online services that provide Lynx's view of a given web page are available.{{sfn|Paciello|2000|p=135}}

Lynx is also used to test websites' performance. As one can run the browser from different locations over remote access technologies like [[Telnet]] and [[Secure Shell|SSH]], one can use Lynx to test the website's connection performance from different geographical locations simultaneously.{{sfn|Killelea|2002|pp=60-61}} Another possible web design application of the browser is quick checking of the site's links.{{sfn|Killelea|2002|p=178}}