Re: HTML Streaming

Peter Flynn <pflynn@imbolc.ucc.ie> wrote:

>I'm still not clear what needs to be done to enable streaming that
>cannot already be done with existing definitions. I don't think that
>removing the header to the end of the file is productive merely on the
>grounds that the information in it is not displayed: there are other
>reasons for things to occur where they do -- indexing engines for
>example want to find the list of keywords near the top of the file, to
>minimize the volume of data they read before getting to them. I think
>you'll find that the organization of HTML -- however deficient in
>other areas -- was done for good reasons, and I'd hesitate to undo it
>unless for equally good ones.

I have never heard of a bot that truncates a HTML file at the download of 
the keyword tag. I think sending what is displayed first would actually be 
helpful to some bots. Anyway, I agree; Metadata tracking and searching are
very important. The lang attributes are used by speech synthesizers, 
modification dates are used to refresh pages etc. I don't propose a rewrite 
of the HTML DTD to a BODY, HEAD organization or a rewrite of any other HTML 
DTD. The entire language would need to be reviewed to allow each tag to 
stream. Frankly, I don't think it is that big of a problem. I think the HTML 
file can be streamed with the addition of tags that give a description of 
the HTML file. The colgroup and other individual descriptions meant to 
stream an individual tag would not be required. I don't think protocols for 
the organization of tags, in the head or body, would do as much harm as you 
imply.

Albert Fine

Received on Friday, 29 August 1997 11:23:26 UTC