- From: Ted Hardie <hardie@merlot.arc.nasa.gov>
- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 09:15:12 -0700 (PDT)
- To: Francois Yergeau <yergeau@alis.ca>
- Cc: http-wg%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com
Larry writes: > > < The "charset" parameter is used with some media types to define the > > < character set (section 3.4) of the data. Origin servers SHOULD > > < include an appropriate charset parameter for those media types which > > < allow one (including text/html and text/plain) to avoid ambiguity. > > < In the absence of a charset parameter, the default charset value MAY > > < be assumed to be "ISO-8859-1" when received from a HTTP/1.1 server. Francois writes: > Not good enough, I'm afraid. For one, charset can still be ignored, > and the problem we have now (its absence in most cases) will not be > solved. Further, ISO-8859-1 is still in, with no justification > whatsoever. If there is to be a default, it should be UTF-8, not a > "local derivative" like Latin-1. > Francois, As Harald made very clear at the meetings in Montreal, the group proposing UTF-8 as a target for new standards recognizes the problems associated with an installed base of clients and servers; they made very specific exceptions in their recommendations to deal with that situation, naming HTTP's use of IS-8859-1 as one of those exceptions. Larry's language is appropriate for a deployed protocol and for a reasonable transition. If you want the group to consider tightening the language further in later revisions of HTTP 1.1, please develop a realistic transition plan and submit it as an I.D. HTTP 1.1 is very far along the road at this point and it is not the place to consider a sudden, basic shift in assumed character sets. regards, Ted Hardie NASA Science Internet
Received on Wednesday, 3 July 1996 09:22:44 UTC