Re: Grinding to a halt on Issue 27.

Roy T. Fielding wrote:

> I'll take issue with that.  Using localized characters in a namespace name
> is an incredibly stupid idea that will result in systems that do not work
> as well as those that stick to ascii URI.  It is a trade-off that the
> technology should allow in the hope that some day conditions will improve,
> but anyone who treats that decision as a no-brainer will be doomed to
> regret it as soon as their namespace becomes interesting outside their
> own locality.

I disagree entirely.  I think that people choose names for maximum 
effectiveness, and their metrics may well include appeal to a local 
audience, if I have a web site for a nice local bookshop in Warsaw or 
Athens or Baghdad or Katmandu on which I advertise specials and opening 
hours and so on, the natural URI for it probably includes several 
non-ASCII characters that are easy to type and read for any potential 
customer, and it really sucks that this currently isn't possible.  The 
ability to type in "www.<the-name-of-the-store-on-the-corner.com>" and 
have it frequently work is one of the really nice things about the Web.

-- 
Cheers, Tim Bray
         (ongoing fragmented essay: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/)

Received on Tuesday, 29 April 2003 12:23:14 UTC