Re: Accept atribute on forms and links

On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 3:58 PM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:

> Anchors are GETing resources, resources has many representations (html,
> pdf, png, txt)
>
>    I would like to request custom representation (for example pdf) on link
> or form without using the ugly extension mechanism (*.pdf)
>

> And rely on server content negotiation... yes also I like to specify a
> list of preferred representations (not only one)
>
>    image/png, image/jpg, image/gif, image/svg-xml  (this is my list of
> preferred representations, or mime-types, and I don't like any other image
> format)
>
>
>
One problem with this is that the URL will no longer work if it is outside
of the original document. For forms this is ok, but people expect links to
just work.

Content negotiation is supposed to be for client software to advertise what
formats it supports so that the server can provide suitable content which
can be displayed by the host software.

It's not really meant for authors to declare what content they want
requested - if you already know the distinct resource you want to
reference, you should just link to it. Then the client will either support
the format and display it, or not and offer it for download.

Overloading resource URLs on the server and overriding Accept headers on
every link goes against some basic web principals.

Cameron


> On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:28 PM, Cameron Jones <cmhjones@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 6:15 PM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
>> jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> And links?
>>>
>>>    <a href="/formula">link</a>
>>>
>>
>> Anchors are static references to URLs, whereas forms are used for
>> configuring custom scheme requests. They both serve a distinct purpose so
>> mixing the necessary complexity into anchors serves no purpose - if you
>> need to configure a custom HTTP request you can use a form.
>>
>> HTH,
>> Cameron
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you, Cameron
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 5:57 PM, Cameron Jones <cmhjones@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 11:53 AM, Jose Antonio Illescas del Olmo <
>>>> jose.illescas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Please consider add (optional) "accept" header to request concrete
>>>>> representations:
>>>>>
>>>>> Until now is necesary delegato on extension to download concrete
>>>>> representations:
>>>>>
>>>>> For example:
>>>>>
>>>>>    Now: <a href="/resource.pdf"/>
>>>>>    Proposed: <a href="/resource" accept="application/pdf"/>
>>>>>
>>>>>    Now: <a href="/resource.svg"/>
>>>>>    Proposed: <a href="/resource" accept="image/svg+xml"/>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The same attribute "accept" can be applied for <forms>
>>>>>
>>>>>     <form method="get" action="/formula"
>>>>> accept="application/mathml+xml">
>>>>>     ...
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This feature is available within the HTTP Form Extensions specification:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.w3.org/TR/form-http-extensions/
>>>>
>>>> You can configure a form using inputs which may override the standard
>>>> Accept header:
>>>>
>>>> <form method="GET" action="/formula">
>>>>     <input name="Accept" value="application/mathml+xml" type="hidden"
>>>> payload="_header"/>
>>>>     <button type="submit"/>
>>>> </form>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Cameron Jones
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>