RE: Grinding to a halt on Issue 27.

> From: www-tag-request@w3.org [mailto:www-tag-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of
> Tim Bray
> Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 6:23 PM
> To: Roy T. Fielding
> Cc: WWW-Tag
> Subject: 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.

I agree that all of this is true -- however, it really doesn't apply to
namespace names, doesn't it? Namespace names are really really technical
things. You don't usually advertise them in a newspaper or on a bus :-)

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