Table of Contents
Lynx is a hypertext network information browser--a World Wide Web client, like [ http://www.mozilla.org/firefox ] Firefox --that allows you to retrieve documents from the web. Unlike Firefox, however, you see only text, not graphics. It was designed to work with text-based VT100 and VT102 terminal and is can be used after you log on to isis.unc.edu. (If you have a direct internet connection, use a browser like Firefox instead because, unlike Lynx, Firefox is a fully graphical interface to the Web. You can use your mouse to point and click, making it easier to use.) The World Wide Web is a distributed document delivery service. Because it uses a client-server model, it's easy to use to search for and retrieve materials from remote sites. The web uses hypertext to make browsing and searching both local and remote sources of information easy and uncomplicated.
client - Requests information from a server.
HTML - Hypertext Markup Language. Used to produce the documents that clients such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Lynx can interpret.
HTTP - Hypertext Transport Protocol, a method of carrying out a request for information.
hyperlink - Pointer to another WWW document that links one document to another.
hypertext - Non-linear, non-sequential text.
NCSA - National Center for Supercomputing Applications located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
page - An HTML document viewed using a WWW client.
protocol - Method of carrying out the request for information.
server - Provides information to a client.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator. Identifies the type and location of network and local resources (files). URLs come in the following flavors:
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http://server/path
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gopher://site/:portnumber/
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telnet://site
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ftp://site/directory/
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news:alt.whatever
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file://localhost/directory/file.html
When you open a URL, you must enter its entire name, including exact punctuation and capitalization.
WWW - World Wide Web. An on-line web of cooperative documents.
To start Lynx, if you are using the menu on isis.unc.edu, you can choose the Surf the Web (lynx) option. Or you can type in lynx from the command prompt.In Lynx, you will be looking at web pages, which are hypertext documents. Hypertext looks a great deal like normal text, except for the use of boldface text which show links to other documents and places on the Internet. Links are the magic gateways to other sources of information on the Internet. In general, using Lynx is a combination of reading the hypertext and using links to move you to other material. Here are the most useful Lynx commands:
Table 1.
| Lynx Command | Description |
|---|---|
| return or right arrow key | select a link |
| up and down arrow keys | move you through a document one link at a time |
| g (and the URL address) | go to a specified site |
| a | save: either as a document or a bookmark |
| v | view bookmark file |
| space bar | move down a whole screen |
| - (dash) | move up a whole screen |
| left arrow key | retrace a link to a previous page |
As you can see from the previous chart, you can navigate the web with Lynx using only the four arrow keys on your keyboard!
The history list is a temporary list of the Web pages you have visited during this session of Lynx browsing. Press the Delete key to see the history list, and you can scroll through the list to find a page you want to return to. When you exit your Lynx session, this list is deleted.
You can search the current page you are looking at by pressing / and entering a search term. Lynx will search only the current page. If you want to search for information on the Web, try a search engine such as [ http://www.google.com/ ] Google , [ http://www.alltheweb.com/ ] AlltheWeb , or [ http://vlib.org/ ] the WWW Virtual Library .
Bookmarks are a feature of Lynx that are absolutely essential to mastering the web. Whenever you find a place on the web that you like, it is easy to record its location using bookmarks. Two commands come in handy: add and view . Add lets you add the web page you are currently using to your permanent list of bookmarks; to do this, simply press the letter a while the page is on your screen and then choose l to save the bookmark (you also use the add command to save a page to a file). To call up a list of all your bookmarks, press the letter v at any time, and then select the web page you wish to return to. Bookmarks work because each and every place on the web has a unique name; this name is what your list of bookmarks actually stores. If you've looked at our Glossary at the top of this document, you've probably already figure out that these location names are called URLs.
URLs work just like any other Internet name and allow you to directly access a location on the Web. If you know a URL and would like to use it, type g (goto) inside the Lynx program and enter the exact URL. Lynx will then take you to the location specified (hint: once you get there, add the URL to your bookmark list by pressing the letter a -- this way, you won?t have to remember the URL on your own).
You can use options to customize your use of Lynx. Press o to see the options.
You have the option to number the links on the pages you visit. This way you can select the number of the link you want rather than using the arrow keys to scroll down to it. Choose o (for Options) and press the down arrow until you come to the field Keypad mode . Press Return or the right arrow , and select Links are numbered , and press Return .
You might want to fill in your personal name address so that when you send email through Lynx you have a return email address on the message. Press O and scroll down to the field Personal Mail Address . Type your email address and press Return .
Document Overview
Tags: Lynx, browser, isisSubjects: Browsers
Genre: Tutorial
Audience: UNC-CH Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Copyright 2002-2007 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This
work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
