Editing Help:Text editor support (section)

==== Lynx in Windows ====
In addition to above instructions, there are intricacies specific to Windows.

If you want to use Wikimedia's secure servers, get a version of Lynx that supports SSL. To find out if yours already does, go to Options and see if the User-Agent header contains <CODE>OpenSSL</CODE>.

The assumed character set should be <CODE>utf-8</CODE>, as this is also the default charset used by Wikipedia. The display character set can be different, such as <CODE>cp850</CODE>, but editable text will always be in <CODE>utf-8</CODE>.

In Windows, the display font should be Lucida Console instead of 'Raster fonts', as Lucida Console supports a greater amount of characters. The display font can be changed in window properties: In Windows XP, click the Lynx window icon (to the left of the title), choose Properties, and switch to the Font tab, which typically lists only Raster fonts and Lucida Console.

===== Lynx configuration files =====
Configuration files for Lynx are simple text files and can be edited from any text editor that supports Unix linebreaks. In Windows 9x, the built-in text editor for this is [[WordPad]], because [[Windows Notepad|Notepad]] in these old Windows versions does not support the Unix Line Feed.

'''<CODE>lynx.cfg</CODE>''' is the config file for Lynx; the global config file in Windows is always located in the same folder as the Lynx executable, wherever it has been installed to. A typical location is <CODE>C:\Program Files\Lynx</CODE>. If Lynx is installed in that folder, then Windows Vista and newer usually require administrator access to edit the file (via User Account Control).

'''<CODE>lynx.rc</CODE>''' is a per-user Lynx User Defaults File saved from the Options page. Settings in it take priority over the global config file. In Windows Vista, the per-user User Defaults file can be in <CODE>C:\Users\''Username''\AppData\Local\temp\lynx.rc</CODE>. If the file is in the <CODE>temp</CODE> directory, care is advised when using automated cleanup tools like Disk Cleanup.

Lynx Option file syntax is different between global (lynx.cfg) and per-user (lynx.rc) configuration files.

<CODE>lynx.cfg</CODE> is extensive; very often, almost all options are placed into it, along with explanatory comments for each option. If it's not so, there's an official online version at [http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.7/lynx2-8-7/lynx.cfg lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.7/lynx2-8-7/lynx.cfg] &mdash; Keep in mind that if your Lynx version is different, change the numbers in the URL accordingly, as some options may be version-specific.

The best way to find an option is by using the text editor's find feature.

When not in active use, an option is commented out with a hash <CODE>#</CODE> and its default setting is on; To use an option, delete the hash character before it. The config file may occasionally not contain a specific option, but it can be added by the user.

===== Defaults to reconsider =====
The following options are often found as defaults in Lynx binaries compiled for Windows and might not meet formatting conventions used in Wikipedia. These options can be edited from <CODE>lynx.cfg</CODE> and are usually not specified in the Options page. Before editing, back up the file and rename it to <CODE>lynx.cfg.old</CODE>, for example.

====== Collapsed <NOWIKI><BR></NOWIKI> tags ======
The <CODE>COLLAPSE_BR_TAGS:</CODE> option should be set to <CODE>FALSE</CODE>, as in the example below:
 COLLAPSE_BR_TAGS:FALSE
The reason is that some editors intentionally use more than one <CODE><NOWIKI><BR></NOWIKI></CODE> tag, especially in locations where conventional paragraph breaks are not allowed.

====== Justified text ======
Graphical browsers do not show this, since justification is not used. For this, set
 JUSTIFY:FALSE

====== Numbered links ======
As Wikipedia articles very often feature linked content in tables, the numbers in brackets before or next to links may be distracting. Set these following options:
 DEFAULT_KEYPAD_MODE:LINKS_ARE_NOT_NUMBERED
 NUMBER_LINKS_ON_LEFT:FALSE

====== Editing ======
The typical key combination to invoke an out-of-Lynx editor in Windows is Ctrl+x+e and not Ctrl+E+e like in Unices and elsewhere; this can be changed in the config file. Both an internal and external editor can be used, according to taste and preferences. Avoid Windows Notepad for reasons stated above. And only since Windows XP does WordPad have full Unicode support (with some reservations).<br>
An example with Vim, configured to use the mediawiki syntax:
 SYSTEM_EDITOR:C:\Progra~1\Vim\vim73\vim.exe -c "setf mediawiki"
Note the double quotes ^

====== Colour issues ======
When using an in-window editor like Vim and after exiting back into Lynx, any colour theme Lynx uses is rendered inoperable (links and buttons not highlighted anymore), so the best practice is to never show colors in Options (in section Appearance), and save the settings.