This file has been created from HLIST.HTM using HLIST as a filter
( TYPE HLIST.HTM | HLIST >README.TXT ).

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                               Table of Contents

  * Disclaimer
  * Why this program has been written
  * How to use it
  * System Requirements
  * Bugs and missing things
  * How to contact the Author
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                                  Disclaimer
This software is copyrighted by the author, Martin Goebbel. It may be used and
distributed freely without any restrictions.
This software is provided "as is" and any express or implied warranties,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantibility and
fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the author be
liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or
consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute
goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption)
however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict
liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of
the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

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                       Why this program has been written
Actually there were two reasons for this:
  * I wanted to write the documentation for my programs in HTML, but I didn't
    want to include other peoples browsers. So, for every package to be complete
    I had to include my own browser in order to avoid copyright problems.
  * I also needed it for myself, for quickly viewing HTML Files under DOS,
    without the need to first load another BIG program.
So the main Design Goals where to
  * Keep the program small
  * Make it widely usable
The second point was accomplished by using only BIOS Video routines for output.
This should make it work under standard Dos, Dos/V, DesqView and it should work
more easily with Screen Readers.
It should also work on a computer without a 100% compatible CGA video adapter
and on a dos emulator (not tested). The drawback is that it is slow on older
machines. I tried it on a computer with 8086, 4.77MHz. It did work, but don't
expect blazing speed there.

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                                 How to use it
Usage is actually pretty simple. On the Commanline type:
                              HLIST document.htm

If there is no filename supplied, hlist starts in filter mode. This means the
HTML document is read from standard input and the (hopefully) readable text goes
to the standard output. For example:
                         TYPE INDEX.HTM | HLIST | MORE
This would allow you to view the HTML Document using the DOS More command.
In order to create a readable text file from a HTML File use hlist like this:
                      TYPE INDEX.HTM | HLIST > INDEX.TXT


After the Document has been parsed, you can scroll by a single line using the
cursor up and down keys. For a full page use the page up and down keys. Home and
End will take you to the start of the document or to its end.
The Cursor Left Key will reload the previous document. Actually this just
scrolls through the history list (which may be selected by pressing Alt-H) by
making the previous document the current and moving the current document to the
end of the list.
Alt-P starts printing the current Document on LPT1.
The only Control Codes used for printing are ESC-E and ESC-F to turn bold
printing on and off. This should work on almost all Printers.
If it does not work on your Printer, look in your Printer Manual if there is a
way to make it compatible to an Epson printer.

Emphasized and Bold characters are displayed in black, links are displayed in
blue. If running in a Desqview Window you might get different colors.
To move from link to link, use the Tabulator. Shift and Tab move to the previous
link, tab without shift to the next link.
The Enter key loads the document specified by the link. You may only use local
or relative links (This program is not a full Web Browser )
Something like <A HREF="http://www.some-where.org/index.html"> is not
understood.
But <A HREF="C:\HTML\INDEX.HTM"> or <A HREF="..\HDOC\MAIN.HTM#label"> should
work.


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                              System Requirements
The minimal system requirements are
  * A PC - compatible system with 8086 CPU
  * Any Video Adapter
  * DOS 3.3
  * The amount of RAM needed depends on the size of the HTML files you want to
    view. 128K should be sufficient for small files (about 10K)
A warning about speed: A minimal system like the one described above needs about
half a minute for parsing a 50K HTML file. So, if nothing seems to happen after
starting the program, it's not necessarily a program crash. Just wait a while.
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                            Bugs and missing things
Like usual there are probably tons of Bugs I did't find yet.
One additional thing to say is that the program supports only a subset of HTML
2.0 AND is very strict about the syntax. I have only included the tags I felt to
be necessary for writing the documentation for my programs (See Reasons above,
point 1 ).
For a HTML file to be correctly parsed it needs the <HTML>, <HEAD>, </HEAD>,
<BODY>, </BODY>, </HTML> tags to exist within the document (case is not
significant). A <TITLE> tag is only recognized within a header.
Currently the following tags and special symbols are ( more or less ) supported:
                           Tags (not case sensitive)

  * <HTML>, </HTML>
  * <HEAD>, </HEAD>
  * <BODY>, </BODY>
  * <TITLE>, </TITLE>
  * <BR>, <P>
  * <HR>
  * <EM>, </EM>
  * <B>, </B>
  * <UL>, </UL>
  * <OL>, </OL>
  * <LI>
  * <A HREF="..>, <A NAME="..>, </A>
  * <CENTER>, </CENTER>
  * <PRE>, </PRE>
  * <IMG>
                                Special Symbols

  * &,<,>,|, ,,,"
  * ,,,,,,,x
  * ,,,,,,
  * ,,,,,,
  * ,,,,,
  * ,,,,,
  * ,,,,,
  * ,,,,,
I have only implemented those symbols which can be found in Codepage 437. This
means that if you have a different Codepage selected you might have problems
reading the symbols above.
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                           How to contact the Author
You may reach me by email under one of the following adresses:
  * martin@tennyo.muc.de
  * martin@tennyo.org

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       _     _
      (o`-~-'o)        This is just a small example for
       ( @ @ )         preformatted text. 
       { (T) }         
        ` ~ 'mag 

