question and comment

First Id like to alert you that there are several broken links in the 
section of your site dedicated to URI schemes:
<http://www.w3.org/Addressing/schemes.html>http://www.w3.org/Addressing/sche 
mes.html

     Second, I would like to ask a question. I am a college student 
interested in Web development and learning about related technologies. I 
have come across URL's/URI's like:

aim:goim?screenname=ScreenNameHere&message=Message+Text+Here

     This link will attempt to open AOL Instant Messenger (if not already 
open) and actually send data to and/or  perform an action in the AIM 
program. Forinstance, the above link would open an IM window ready to be 
send the message "Message Text Here" to the person with the screem name 
"ScreenNameHere" (substitute realvalues for the place holders I provided).
     I have seen similar URI's/URl's that attempt to envoke actions in 
programs such as Napster, Yahoo Instant Messenger and several others. This 
is similar to the way a "mailto:" URI opens your default mail program with 
the exception that these URI's are much less common than email links and 
that they can do much more. Another difference is that these methods almost 
always prompt the user to ask if he wishes to allow the action.
     This all apears to be an issue adressed on your section about URI 
schemes, but one that is done so vaugley and not very comprehensibly. I 
dont even know how to refer to these types of URI's or what this technique 
is called, but I would like to learn more in general about the technology. 
If you could send me back any helpful info other than what I've already 
seen on your site, Id apreciate it. Id also like to see a more formal 
description and definition on your site about what exactly it is that makes 
these "special" links work, and more detailed inforamation on the various 
schemes and actions you can use them to perform. For instances I can not 
only create a clickable link on a webpage that would send me an instant 
message but I could also create one that, when clicked on, would add my 
screen name to the users buddy list. It's of interest to me to know how 
much I could do using nuthing more than a clickable link tat is nearly 
impossible with any other technique. Creating a link that would open a 
ready to go napster window already set up to search for a particular song 
and artist. This would be invaluable for an artist's website. I'd like to 
know more intricate knowlege about all this and exactly what the limits and 
capabillities of it are. Thank you.

Received on Tuesday, 13 November 2001 10:43:29 UTC