[whatwg] [WF2] action="mailto:" - encoding spaces

[Ian Hickson]

On Tue, 2 Dec 2008, Julian Reschke wrote:
> Ian Hickson wrote:
> > ...
> > I actually can't find where it is defined that the + in an HTTP 
> > URI represents a space. (I can find where it says that a space is to 
> > be converted into a +, but not the other way around.)
> 
> Where does it say that? Surely not RFC 2616? RFC 3986?

HTML4; you cited the exact reference below.

> > My understanding, though, is that the convention that + represents a 
> > space is not part of the URI syntax, but part of the syntax of the 
> > format used to encode the data into the URI, which for HTTP URIs is 
> > generally application/x-www-form-urlencoded. But nothing stops this 
> > format from
> 
> Yes: <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/forms.html#h-17.13.4.1>
> 
> > being used elsewhere, e.g. in the body of an e-mail or a POST 
> > submission.
> 
> I could be used, but I'm not sure it should. What's the advantage over 
> representing SP as %20?

None whatsoever, as far as I can tell. That's why people normally use 
text/plain.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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