Re: math: URI scheme and protocol handler

> Not sure what you're trying to fix here. If the browser knows the handler
for the media type, it's supposed to download to a temporary file and pass
that to the media type handler.

That's not generally what it does.

It downloads it to a persistent file and passes *that* to the media type
handler.

And depending on browser settings it may ask you where to put the
persistent file.

The gist is that the browser does not know the difference between a
downloaded legal document that should be stored forever in an easy to find
place and a downloaded equation which is likely not very relevant for
long-term use.



On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 2:05 AM, Julian Reschke <julian.reschke@gmx.de>wrote:

> On 2014-04-29 10:42, Paul Prescod wrote:
>
>> Thank you, that video clarified.
>>
>> The way the browsers are implemented, it is more seamless to launch an
>> external application with some data using a URL protocol rather than a
>> content-type.
>>
>> http://www.chromeplugins.org/google/chrome-plugins/how-
>> start-external-applications-9717.html
>>
>> I have done this myself in the past.
>>
>> I don't know what to say: the implementation defects of the browsers are
>> at odds with how web architecture is supposed to work. URL handlers are
>> not supposed to be application-launchers. They are supposed to describe
>> the actual protocol for downloading or manipulating data. Think of the
>> mess that will arise if every file format also needs a standardized URI
>> format as a way of working around browser behaviours.
>>
>> If you do not worry about a formal standardization process at the W3C
>> then nobody will care that you are using URIs in this way.
>>
>> The systemic fix is that HTML should have a way of stating that the
>> target file is designed to be "transient" and the user should not be
>> harassed about a filename for storage. If the user wants to save the
>> data then they could do a "Save As" from the viewer app.
>> ....
>>
>
> Not sure what you're trying to fix here. If the browser knows the handler
> for the media type, it's supposed to download to a temporary file and pass
> that to the media type handler.
>
> Best regards, Julian
>