mime type (was: XHTML with Internet Explorer)

Jim Ley 
> Steven Pemberton:

> > Appendix C basically points out that there is a class of 
> > XHTML1 documents that can be delivered successfully
> > to legacy browsers,

> The normative 5.1 states:
 
> | HTML Documents which follow the guidelines set forth in
> | Appendix C, "HTML Compatibility Guidelines" may be
> | labeled with the Internet Media Type "text/html" [RFC2854]
 
> This normative part requires that documents served as 
> text/html must "follow the guidelines set forth in 
> Appendix C".  If this incorrect this needs clarifying.

Perhaps the clarification is just to strengthen.

Given just your 5.1 quote, it isn't too hard to misread it as
"The proper type is ..., but use text/html for backwards
compatibility."  Not everyone will even bother to look
at Appendix C.  Your wording is stronger, and I would
suggest something stronger still, such as

	Note that some HTML Documents MAY instead be 
	labeled with the Internet Media Type "text/html" 
	[RFC2854].  Those documents served as text/html
	MUST conform to the guidelines set forth in 
	Appendix C; even many correct xhtml documents 
	do not conform to Appendix C.

-jJ

Received on Monday, 3 November 2003 10:42:43 UTC