[whatwg] [rest-discuss] HTML5 and RESTful HTTP in browsers

Mike mike at mykanjo.co.uk
Tue Nov 18 08:56:03 PST 2008


Joshua Cranmer wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>> The benefits? Oh I don't know.. a markup language that supports the 
>> transfer protocol it runs on?!
> Who says you have to serve HTML over HTTP? I see it served via email 
> (and newsgroups), local filesystems, and FTP on a regular basis. 
> Indeed, making HTML depend on HTTP-specific features sounds like A Bad 
> Idea™ (and if you retort XMLHTTPRequest, let me point out that I 
> personally would have objected to injecting HTTP specifics into that 
> interface, had I been around during the design phases).
>
> To follow your arguments to the logical conclusion, HTML would have to 
> have special attributes to deal with circumstances within email 
> messages, specific attributes to handle certain filesystem-specific 
> abilities, or quirks of the FTP protocol. I think you'll find such a 
> position untenable; ask yourself then, why limit it to HTTP?
>
I wouldn't limit it to that, but I don't have the time or inclination to 
investigate other applicable protocols that suffer equally poor support 
in HTML. If you can evidence this the same way I have for Accept headers 
in HTTP; let me know - I'll champion that too if it makes you feel 
better! :)

Regards,
Mike



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