Re: XHTML 1.1 as text/html

On Thu, Apr 26, 2007 at 05:27:25PM +0200, Sierk Bornemann wrote:
> >That's a bug in the webserver then. The HTTP spec says to assume that
> >a client supports everything if it doesn't say otherwise.

> I use a mod_rewrite rule to rewrite "text/html" into "application/ 
> xhtml+xml", if the client says, that it supports this mimetype.

And as someone mentioned at the time, mod_rewrite isn't a very good
tool for that.

... incidentally, Microsoft Internet Explorer does express that it
accepts application/xhtml+xml documents in its default Accept header.

> >In my eyes, the user-friendlyiest solution would be if your server
> >didn't serve a document under a mime type marked SHOULD NOT under any
> >circumstances.
> 
> See above. See also my full quotet mod_rewrite rule earlier in this  
> thread.

Yes, its a fairly typical example of a mod_rewrite rule that fails to
properly parse the accept header. 

Accept: x-application/xhtml+xml-sgmlmode, text/html

Would get served an application/xhtml+xml content type.

> The normal assumtion from the webserver *is* "text/html". It is just  
> only then rewritten by mod_rewrite, if the client says, that it will  
> accept "application/xhtml+xml". If not, "text/html" is served.

But either way, a document which "SHOULD NOT" be served as text/html
is served, and no benefit is gained over using XHTML 1.0 or HTML 4.01.

-- 
David Dorward                                      http://dorward.me.uk

Received on Thursday, 26 April 2007 15:48:41 UTC