Re: Permitting non-indirect links

Eliot wrote:
> There is no HyTime-direct way to say that you want an address to be cobbled
> together from a variety of attributes on the same element, [but]
> you can always define a "query" that will give you the effect, however
> twisted such an approach might be.

I for one care not one whit how "twisted" the XML hyperlinking facility
appears in HyTime, nor even whether HyTime has to be modified before
it can accommodate it.  I _do_ care that it be simple and easy to
explain.  Since there is already a large well-used widely deployed
hypertext system in the world, we will have to explain and justify
every difference.  Many, many. many times, to many people.

I see strong reasons to use the existing URL syntax, and to allow
for URNs when they settle down.

Anything that makes simple links much more complex than
    <A HREF="http://www.sq.com./toc.html"
       REL="TOC"
       TITLE="table of contents"
       MEDIA-TYPE="text/html"
    >Table of contents</A>
might as well be forgotten quietly now.

Yes, I'd like to see indirection supported -- luckily, you can do
this with entities:
    <A HREF="&mylink;">
and store the entity definitions in a separate file.

Yes, I'd like to see something like Panorama's "web files" -- a
user-managed (or automatically downloaded) way of transporting a set
of links and/or annotations -- in a separate ilinkish file.

No, I don't want to write anything more complex.
As has already been pointed out, a majority of people who use
the web, and a majority of people who create HTML document, do
not clearly understand the syntax of URLs, but use copy and paste.
If you make them split them up just for the sake of a messier
link (or cleaner, if you happen to like it), they will make more
mistakes, and probably go back to HTML.

Existing practice shows the need for simplicity.

Lee

Received on Saturday, 18 January 1997 18:25:29 UTC