Re: N-Triples MIME type should not be text/plain -- comment on RDF Test Cases.

Graham Klyne wrote:
> The person to ask for a more definitive view would be Ned Freed (co-author of
> RFC2046).  I have read him argue quite compellingly in a public forum that the
> adoption of text/html was a mistake, because for non-technical users displaying
> the uninterpreted text is just a source of confusion (e.g.
> http://osdir.com/ml/ietf.xml-mime/2000-10/msg00049.html).
>   
One of the big issues seems to be the default browser behavior: whether 
it should be displayed to the user if no application supports that 
content type <http://osdir.com/ml/ietf.xml-mime/2000-10/msg00021.html>. 
I can see the arguments on both sides, and it's a tough call. Out of 
personal experience, it would irritate me if I were to try to browse to 
a DTD file or an RDF/XML file and my browsers tries to download it, when 
*I* know that I just wanted to view it on the screen. (Worse still is IE 
thinking it can parse the stuff, and then choking because IE isn't 
compliant with the specifications, but that's not the fault of the 
content type.)

It seems to me that, if you don't have a plugin for N3, then why not 
show it on the screen? It's better than nothing, and it doesn't help you 
any more if the browser pops up a download dialog. text/rdf+n3 is thus 
the lowest common denominator. If it is something that should never be 
displayed to the user, then an application/specific+rdf+n3 should be 
created, which could still be edited by a general RDF plugin, but would 
never be displayed to the user. That's what I'm leaning towards on this, 
but it's not an easy call by any means.

Garret

Received on Sunday, 4 November 2007 23:50:21 UTC