dan dunfee recently cross-posted the following comment to a number of lists:

quote
i just tried the new nls online interface to do a book search, not a pretty
sight.   there are literaly 13 pages of radio  button pick items when using
lynx.   it is much faster in getting results, but that interface is a
travesty.   there need to be toggles which present a much simplified interface
for those who want one.   did anyone at the nls consult with blinks, especially
lynx users, before putting this up?  look at:
        http://www.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bph.html
unquote

to which i reply:

aloha, dan!

i don't think that the problem is so much with the interface (although i
personally might have designed it differently) but with your browsers'
settings...  what version of lynx are you using?  if you're note sure, type an
equals sign while Lynx is running, and the version number should be displayed
on the third line from the top of the screen -- or, if you prefer, line 3 of
the 25 lines of the Lynx display area...

it sounds to me as if you have Lynx set to convert list-boxes into radio
buttons, and that you need to go into the Options menu (which you reach by
typing an O while lynx is running)

once you get to the Options menu, use lynx's search feature (invoked by typing
a forward slash) to search for the word
        popups
        (that's p o p u p s)
and lynx should place you on a line that reads:
        Popups for select fields

check the value that is currently set for this option and if it is set to OFF,
then use the arrow keys to set it to ON

the reason i asked you what version of Lynx you are running is to determine if
you are using a version of Lynx that allows you to convert popup boxes -- what
GUI screen readers call "list boxes" or "drop-down menus" --  into radio
buttons...  if you are using Lynx32, chances are that you _are_ using a version
of Lynx that is capable of converting popup menus to radio buttons, and that
you have it set to do so...

you might be curious as to why this option exists, so here is a (hopefully)
brief historical aside to explain the problems that popup menu support, as
originally implemented in Lynx, caused:

when running Lynx with the SHOW_CURSOR setting active, Lynx placed the cursor
at the extreme right of the popup menu it generated when the user navigated to
a SELECT OPTION form control...  thus, the use of popup menus in conjunction
with a screen-reader often made listening to the form extremely difficult --
not to mention downright annoying -- for, with the cursor placed at the end of
the select option text,  the only way to expose the content of the option was
to use your screen-reader's "say-line" command, which, of course, led to
bleed-through of text from the underlying page content...  as a compensatory
measure, the Lynx Developmental Consortium built the toggle mechanism into
Lynx, so that the user could decide whether to have Lynx render the options
contained in the select menu either as a popup box or to render each option as
a radio button...  and for (what was then state-of-the-art) accessibility's
sake, each radio button was placed on a separate line...  so, why precisely was
the ability to convert select option menus into a series of radio buttons added
to Lynx?  mainly because those actually doing the programming argued that it
would take considerably more programming time and effort to move the cursor
from the extreme right of the popup menu box (i.e. after the last character in
the option), to the extreme left of the popup menu box (which is to say, on the
first character of the first option in the select option menu -- a placement
which would allow screen readers to speak the selected option ONLY when the
user navigated the option list with the arrow keys)

anyway, to make a long story longer, thankfully, wayne buttles -- the man
behind bobcat and lynx32 -- was willing to take the time to effect the change
in bobcat and lynx32, which eventually led the Lynx-Developmental consortium to
do the same...

oh, and one last thing -- if you don't like searching the NLS catalog using the
form located at:
        http://www.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bph.html
you can always use the older, shorter forms, such as the

1. Author or Narrator Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpauth.html>
2. Subject Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpsubj.html>
3. Title Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphptitl.html>
4. Series Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpseri.html>
5. the "Number Search" page, located at
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpnums.html>
links to 3 separate forms:
        5.1 Dewey catalog number searches:
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpdewy.html>
        5.2 Book Number Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpbook.html>
        5.3 Holding Code Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphphold.html>
6. Keyword Search Form
        <http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd/bphpretr.html>

and if you don't want to cut-and-paste or have your synth read all of those
URLs into a tape recorder, you can find links to the catalog search interfaces
by using the following URL:
        http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/books/libraries.html#nls

gregory
--------------------------------------------------------
He that lives on Hope, dies farting
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregory J. Rosmaita <[log in to unmask]>
   WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
        <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
--------------------------------------------------------


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