Dictionaries and possible media type ambiguity

Firstly, I must correct an error which was made in my previous message
regarding dictionaries. Contrary to what I therein suggested, it is
possible to have a general link type (rel="dictionary") and still ensure
that a dictionary which is intended to control a speech synthesizer is
only loaded by speech-based user agents:

<link href="dictionary.html" rel="dictionary" media="speech">

The user agent can then retrieve the dictionary and determine from the
file format, which is yet to be defined, whether it contains phonetic data
or abbreviations and their expansions.

Now I would like to turn to the second issue, namely a possible ambiguity
in the definition of the default media type. This working group has
proposed, and the HTML/CSS working groups have accepted, that "screen"
should be the default media type. This default gives a correct result when
the target of the link is a style sheet:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyles.css" type="text/css">

This refers to a CSS style sheet which, owing to the default media type of
"screen", will be retrieved by the user agent and acted upon only if
output is being directed to a screen display.

However, in the section of the HTML 4.0 draft devoted to the LINK element,
there are various other link types defined, for which a default media type
of "screen" would be inappropriate. Thus:

<link rel="contents" href="contents.html" title="Table of Contents">

In this case, the default media type of "screen" should not be implied;
the link to the table of contents is capable of being rendered in any
medium. For example, a speech-based user agent might announce the title
defined in the LINK element prior to rendering the text of the document.

Thus, media="screen" should only be the default where rel="stylesheet" or
rel="alternate stylesheet"

Is this correct, or am I falling into error and confusion again?

Received on Wednesday, 17 September 1997 05:28:55 UTC