Re: More content negotiation

On Thu, 28 Dec 1995, Daniel DuBois wrote:

> I'm also not a fan of any client-side variant-picking algorithm going into
> the protocol.  What's the point?  Defining variant-picking algorithm for
> servers allows the variant choices to be reproduced by proxies, but what
> does defining the client-side variant-picking algorithm gain?

I can't see any point in a client-side variant-picking algorithm, BUT if
use is reasonably balanced I can see much value in having some form
of conditional markup in the data which allows the client to select and
utilize the appropriate sections of the data. In fact, designed properly
there would be nothing to prevent a smart server from providing variants
based on the conditional markup. The client variant conditional source
would be completely cachable. In the case where the server is involved,
it just falls under whatever variant cache management ends up deployed.

Dave Morris