uri handling in web user agents

hello.

i have a proposal for something to include in either the "User Agent
Accessibility Guidelines" or the "Common User Agent Problems" or
hopefully in both documents.

it seems to be generally accepted that user agents should handle
different content types reasonably, and there are numerous suggestions
in both documents how user agents should do that. what in my opinion is
missing is the same thing for different uri schemes. most browsers
support different uri schemes (such as "http", "https" and "ftp") and
also support configuring special clients for uri schemes that they do
not support internally (such as the "mailto" scheme, which usually is
handled by an email client, or the "news" scheme). however, i think that
user agents should implement generic uri parsers, so that users can
associate any uri scheme with any application. i think this requirement
would make user agents more flexible than they are today (think of the
"tel" and "fax" uri schemes and how user agents handle them today).

kind regards and merry christmas,

erik wilde  - tel:+41-1-6325132 - fax:+41-1-6321035
       mailto:net.dret@dret.net -  http://dret.net/
       computer engineering and networks laboratory
       swiss federal institute of technology  (eth)
       * try not. do, or do not. there is no try. *

Received on Wednesday, 26 December 2001 12:14:54 UTC