Re: Issue 166: clarify term "User Agent" and resolve inconsistencies with W3C specs

On Jun 1, 2009, at 12:59 PM, Julian Reschke wrote:

> Hi,
>
> based on an off-list suggestion from Larry, I just added <http:// 
> trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/166>.
>
> Larry Masinter wrote:
>> Brief summary:
>> The HTTP document uses two terms "user agent" and "client",
>> and in some cases it is careful to distinguish between them,
>> but not always. I would like to see a careful
>> review of each appearance of the terms to insure that
>> "user agent" is used in situations where there is a user,
>> and "client" used in cases where the initiator of the action
>> is either a user agent or another agent with no explicit user.
>> I think this will help the document, and the task relatively
>> limited and editorial.
>> Some instances may require discussion.

As I mentioned on the HTML list, user agent does not mean there
is a user watching the screen.  UA means a client that initiates
requests (as in, decides to start an action based on user controls
or user configuration).

....Roy

Received on Tuesday, 2 June 2009 00:51:04 UTC