Re: Sketch of an idea to address widget/package addressing with fragID syntax and media-type defn.

Stuart,

ext Williams, Stuart (HP Labs, Bristol) wrote:

...

>>> Anyway - that zip files don't intrinically maintain such info is not
>>> a show stopper - though I would have thought that carrying media-type
>>> information is a natural requirement for a packaging format for the
>>> web.
>> Is it not the case that a zip file containing widgets is a
>> representation of an HTTP resource in its own right? If so, couldn't the
>> HTTP header returned in response to a request for that resource contain
>> an HTTP Link header [1] providing a link to another HTTP resource which
>> provides the package metadata, including links to the individual
>> resources contained within the zip file?
> 
> In principle that's a possibility - though it provides an opportunity for more failure modes
> (got the package, failed to get it's metadata) - and there will be the inevitable
> multiple round-trip concerns, though since the headers before the body metadata retrieval
> could be concurrent.

Indeed. Of course the metadata could still also be present inside the 
zip file in addition to being linked via the HTTP Link header.

Cheers,

- johnk