The majority of the groups and lists that I read with my favorite
newsreader (Yarn) frequently offer ascii drawings, poorly formatted
binary attachments, and html links to graphics on the web.
I know that it would be a challenge, but I would like to see Yarn link,
perhaps with a mouse click, from a URL reference in the document being
read to a news base of binary files either on the web or in a
conventional news group or both. This function could also be set up to
sniff the URL's from the text by invoking a function key as F5 for
instance. This would mean that conventional lists would require either
a URL [or even a CGI server] that contained all of the graphics files,
or a second binary companion to the original group or list. Perhaps the
URL request could be handled first by a local surrogate server on the
same machine, and if not found there, searched on the web. Graphics,
once retrieved, could then be added to the local newsbase on the
surrogate server (and deleted along with the calling message when no
longer needed.)
I would not even care if Yarn were left untouched except by the deft
hand of an experienced meddleton ;) for this auxiliary function. It
would require Chin to build hooks for him to work with, however, I
think...
My first wish is that Chin would accept some monetary token of
appreciation from the users of the very best newsreader there is.
(...to keep it at the top, where it ought to be.)
Lou
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