Re: The error message for uploading a non html document

Hi David,

On Jun 3, 2004, at 20:00, David Dorward wrote:
> I've found some time to make a start on it. I haven't yet got all the 
> information I want in it, and it needs some polish, but you can find a 
> draft at: <http://dorward.me.uk/www/content-type/>.

Quite an excellent document, thanks for taking the time to write it.

> Could people please make comments, suggestions, etc.

My comments would depend a lot on your purpose and intended audience. 
It seems to be fairly well adapted as an introduction for the "content 
providing" crowd to understand the inner mechanisms of content types, 
although some of the document seems to be more aimed at an audience 
with Web server management skills.

If you plan it to be mostly an introduction, some parts of it could be 
toned down. A content manager had rather first hear about the 
differents types of content before hearing about Content-Type: (without 
too much details on the HTTP transaction) whereas a Web administrator 
will be happy with the storytelling going the way it currently is.

Another omission (but on purpose, maybe) I notice is that the document 
currently does not seem to mention that this system actually comes from 
MIME. I find it an important factor to understand the syntax of the 
header (granted - I noted above that we may not want to talk too much 
about this!) Going through the trouble of explaining that a document 
has a certain type and that it is served with a specific character 
encoding, that a system (mime) has been developed to declare what a 
document is and how it is served, and finally explain that Web 
transactions are based on this system could be a good way to tell the 
story.

Do you want to explain how the content type plays an important role in 
format negotiation? Of course you don't want your document to get as 
long as CHIPs[1]. Trust me, nobody reads anything that long ;)
	[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/

Eventually, if you'd like, we could create two summaries (content type 
and encoding) - or one? as tips and link to your document. Any opinion 
on that?

Thanks
-- 
olivier