Re: Static? Dynamic?

At 06:39 PM 6/29/99 -0700, Mike Meyer wrote:
>On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Scott Orshan wrote:
>:->Beyond Forms, though, the display of a Web page is not necessarily
>:->idempotent - it is not the same thing to retrieve it once as it is to
>:->retrieve it many times. There are simple statistics and counters that
would
>:->become incorrect. Ads would be regenerated. You might repeat the 
>:->shopping transaction that you just made. The act of retrieving
>:->a Web page might cause some physical action to happen - zooming
>:->a camera or shifting a production line forward - not something you
>:->would want to repeat accidentally.
>
>:->Since this is part of HTML, not HTTP, you couldn't do this with
>:->individual image URLs, or other non-HTML content, but the overall page
>:->could be marked as such.
>
>Which is a good reason for doing this with HTTP, not HTML. You want a
>history control mechanism, similar to the cache-control
>mechanism. Being a big fan of users having control of their clients, I
>find that a bit disturbing. But expecting authors to have control is
>even more prevelant than ignoring standards.
>
>Oddly, the "Meta refresh tag" started life as part of HTTP, and the
>HTTP-EQUIV attribute of the meta tag was used to let the client do the
>work.
>

Note that this issue is up for definition in the work of the X-Link working
group.

It is possible to blend user-control statecharts with author-defined
shortcuts in a way that allows authors to continue to innovate convenience,
grace and style without breaking the safety net.  This is essential for
some people with disabilities but a better deal for all (including authors)
in the end.

Al

Received on Wednesday, 30 June 1999 07:44:15 UTC