Re: Accept: field (was Re: Server Hacking)

At 6:53 AM 10/16/95, Brian Gaines wrote:
>The Accept: field is currently useless in most browsers because it
>does not specify the formats which can be used.
>
>A good definition would be:-
>
>  The native presentable formats of the browser
>
>  The registered formats of helpers

There have been many suggestions for how to deal with content negotiation.
I'm trying to consolidate them into a proposal for Roy to hate as quickly
as I can.  The basic ideas in the proposal were proposed by Larry Masinter
on this list a while ago.  I agree that some emphasis should be placed on
what the browser can do itself, since this will almost always be
preferable.

The suggestion you make above does not adequately answer all of the
complaints about accept that have been mentioned on this list.  See the
mailing list archives <URL:http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/>.

>Preference information can be added for format negotiation purposes.
>Much could be expressed by a simple linear ordering -- list what
>you prefer first.

I agree, but my memory of the MIME spec is that it says order is _not_
significant in header-lists.

M. Hedlund <hedlund@best.com>

Received on Monday, 16 October 1995 11:01:58 UTC