- From: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen <frystyk@w3.org>
- Date: Fri, 07 Jun 1996 15:06:58 -0400
- To: jg@w3.org
- Cc: "Roy T. Fielding" <fielding@liege.ICS.UCI.EDU>, http-wg%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com
jg@w3.org writes: > Since there seems to be universal disgust at the current definition > of variant, I plan to make the following change: > > From: variant > Each representation of that resource that corresponds to a different > sequence of entities that could be returned for a requested resource > is termed a variant. > > variant > > A resource may have one, or more than one, representation(s) > associated with it at any given instant. Each of these > representations is termed a variant. > > If people want, we can reopen the terminology can of worms for draft > standard, but this is my best take for proposed. > > If there are any last second complaints on this change, let me know. There is a conflict/overlap between the definition of "representation" and "variant". I don't think the version above gets the message through that a representation is a (hopefully _the_) snapshot of a resource that the client requested. A variant, on the other hand, spans time so that it _does_ make sense to talk about multiple versions of a variant. A part of the problem is that representation is used to define variant. A fix could look like this: *** Variant A resource may be available in one, or more than one, variant(s), representing one, or more than one, language(s), data format(s), size(s), resolution(s), or other dimensions at any given instant. *** PS: Jim, as you mention, I am not sure whether we should do this at this late point as it does have consequences through out the text. -- Henrik Frystyk Nielsen, <frystyk@w3.org> World-Wide Web Consortium, MIT/LCS NE43-356 545 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139, USA
Received on Friday, 7 June 1996 12:10:40 UTC