[whatwg] HTTP/filesystem World Re: several messages about XML syntax and HTML5

[Karl Dubost]

There are two worlds and that is why the mime-type had always been a  
difficult story.

Le 4 déc. 2006 à 16:55, Ian Hickson a écrit :
> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006, Elliotte Harold wrote:
>> Lachlan Hunt wrote:
>>
>>> The Yellow Screen of Death is about as annoying as you can get.  I
>>> really don't understand how you can go on about the benefits of XML
>>> because it requires well-formedness, but then turn around and say  
>>> XML
>>> can be served as text/html which just makes all your arguments null
>>> and void.
>>
>> Perhaps because you believe the MIME type is a magic incantation that
>> somehow changes the document's nature, and I don't.
>>
>> The document is what it is. A sequence of bytes is either a well- 
>> formed
>> XML document or it isn't. I can call it XML, but that doesn't mean it
>> is; and I can say it's not XML, but that doesn't mean it isn't.
>
> In the Web Apps 1.0 world, an HTTP message whose headers say text/ 
> html is
> an HTML document, regardless of what sequence of bytes the body of the
> message actually say. An HTTP message whose headers say text/xml,  
> or use
> some other XML MIME type, is an XML document. It's the MIME type that
> decides how it is processed. If it is processed as an HTML  
> document, then
> it _is_ an HTML document, possibly with errors. So says the spec.


1. When in a CMS world with dbs and servers, the problem is "easy" to  
solve, it is an implementation problem. Fixing the problem on big  
scales is achievable.

2. When people edit files locally on their filesystem (outside HTTP  
world) and they put them online through FTP (outside HTTP world), to  
finally reach a folder controlled by a Web server (inside HTTP  
World), troubles are starting.

   The problem with 2. is the transition out/in HTTP and how Web  
servers are configured to trigger mimetype through file extensions.  
Very difficult to solve.
Either through UI for managing resources, either through dedicated  
extension (very loosy solution), etc.
   Maybe part of the answer is to have Web servers people included in  
the discussion, because all of that is before the browser food chain  
BUT browser have to "eat" the document in the end.

-- 
Karl Dubost - http://www.w3.org/People/karl/
W3C Conformance Manager, QA Activity Lead
   QA Weblog - http://www.w3.org/QA/
      *** Be Strict To Be Cool ***