[Haskell-cafe] Reading Haddock sources on hackage no longer possible with simple browsers?

Mario Lang mlang at blind.guru
Sun Nov 15 00:18:51 UTC 2020


Alec Theriault <alec.theriault at gmail.com> writes:

> Although I’m sympathetic to the accessibility, in this case wouldn’t just
> directly opening the sources (in a text editor) be simpler?

Following a link to a definition is convenient because there is an
anchor.
Of course I can just open the original sources in a text editor.
But then I am no longer reading documentation, I am reading sources!

> Is there a (simple) way to preserve the experience when browsing using
> Lynx without also holding back features aimed at a regular browsing
> experience?

I was expecting this sort of killer argument.  I have to admit I am too
exhausted with this topic to try and give a meaningful answer.  There
used to be a time when compatibility to existing technology was a goal
by itself.  This is going away even in circles which usually have tried
to achieve some sort of technical excellence.  I am sad.  But I can not
do anything against the tides except for sometimes pointing at ships
while they are sinking, hoping to get someone to see reason and rescue
at least some of them.

Practically speaking, the problem is the visibility style attribute.  As
far as I know, none of the text browsers (lynx, w3m, elinks, eww) have
CSS support.  Barring any other HTML construct which would allow to hide
things by default for text browsers, all I can think of a plain
version in addition to a hip version.  That should be easy to
autogenerate, but it has all the problems attached to a alternative
version.

-- 
CYa,
  ⡍⠁⠗⠊⠕


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