Re: [link draft] Changing the model for links

Mark Nottingham wrote:
> ...
> The alternative is to say that the 'stylesheet alternate' combination 
> isn't specific to how it's serialised, but is tied to the occurrence of 
> the links. I.e., when both relations are present in links between the 
> same resources, these special semantics take affect. However, this does 
> seem to directly conflict with the HTML4 language (see link above), so I 
> don't think doing so is viable.
> 
> Comments?
> ...

It seems that the use of rel="alternate stylesheet" actually is a bug in 
HTML4, in that it's not consistent with the definition of the 
"alternate" link relation:

"Alternate
     Designates substitute versions for the document in which the link 
occurs. When used together with the lang attribute, it implies a 
translated version of the document. When used together with the media 
attribute, it implies a version designed for a different medium (or 
media)." -- <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/types.html#type-links>

So the meaning of "alternate", when combined with "stylesheet", really 
changes from the default meaning.

Proposal: acknowledge this inconsistency, and contain it to the HTML 
syntax, thus

   <link rel="alternate stylesheet" href="/foo.css" />

becomes something like

   Link: </foo.css>; rel="alternate-stylesheet stylesheet"

in an HTTP header (mapping "alternate" to "alternate-stylesheet" if and 
only if it's used together with "stylesheet").

BR, Julian