Re: Comments on new conneg draft

Koen writes:
> In TCN, all variants are _not_ bound to a single URL; the variants are
> bound to their own variant resource URLs.  I think I found the source
> of the confusion.  I defined
> 
>       A resource which allows selection among multiple variants using
>       the transparent content negotiation mechanism.  A transparently
>       negotiable resource always has a variant list bound to it, which
>       can be represented as an Alternates header.
> 

I can tell that I have been talking to government bodies too long,
as my ability to get across something very simple is obviously
degrading!  I am trying to get the same point which is made neatly 
in the abstract into this definition as well, as I believe that
it will save confusion when this definition is seen outside of the
context of this document.  Here is the text from the abstract:

	HTTP allows one to put multiple versions of the same
        information under a single URL.  Transparent content
        negotiation is a mechanism, layered on top of HTTP, for
        automatically selecting the best version when the URL is
        accessed.  This enables the smooth deployment of new web data
        formats and markup tags.
 
In my previous message, my use of the phrase "bound to" seems to have
made the rest of the text appear to say something I didn't intend.
I'm trying to get across that I would find it clearer if the
definition indicated a little more clearly that the transparently
negotiable resource is a group of selectable variants "under a single
URL", as the abstract puts it.  How about this:

transparently negotiable resource

	A transparently negotiable resource is accessed via a standard
	HTTP URL, but allows selection among multiple variants of the
	resource using the transparent content negotiation mechanism.
	A transparently negotiable resource always has a variant list
	bound to it, which can be represented as an Alternates header.


My apologies again for my poor explanations,
				regards,
					Ted Hardie
					NASA NIC

Received on Thursday, 19 September 1996 16:10:19 UTC