[pkg-lynx-maint] Bug#878055: heading in list produces rendering glitch

Mon Oct 9 07:30:45 UTC 2017

Package: lynx-cur
Version: 2.8.9dev1-2+deb8u1
Severity: minor

A rendering glitch arises if, in an HTML document, lynx encounters
a heading element inside a list element.  This happens for many,
but not all, combinations of specific heading and list element types.
The nature of the glitch is that the heading gets apparently-intentional
special colouring, but then that special colouring is erroneously applied
to following text that is outside the heading and list elements.  It is
clear that this is a glitch from the fact that the extent with which this
colouring is applied is not consistent.  It initially applies to the
rest of the visible screenful, and if one moves on to later screenfuls
then it applies to those screenfuls too, but if one requests a redraw
with the top of the screen located in the middle of the affected text
then the screenful will instead be redrawn with normal colouration.

As an example, put this content into a file named x0.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<ul><h3>hhh</h3></ul>
<p>foo</p> <p>bar</p> <p>baz</p> <p>quux</p> <p>wibble</p>
<p>wobble</p> <p>wabble</p> <p>wubble</p> <p>webble</p> <p>webble</p>
<p>sponge</p> <p>trellis</p>
</body>
</html>

Size your terminal window to 80x24, then start up lynx as "lynx x0.html".
Observe that the heading "hhh" and all following rendered text (which with
default configuration will be down to "webble") is yellow.  Additionally,
if you have key information shown in the bottom two lines of the screen
(as is the case by default), that is yellow despite it normally being
white.  Press space to render the next screenful.  The text rendered here
is also yellow, as is (still) the key help at the bottom of the screen.
Now press ctrl-L to redraw.  The text rendered in this screenful is now
redrawn in white, and so is the help text.  Press ctrl-P repeatedly to
move up the page by lines.  You will see that all the formerly-yellow
text is now rendered in white, until you get up to the first post-list
text "foo", at which point all the text rendered on the screen, plus
the help text, turns yellow.

-zefram