Re: Adding user@ to HTTP[S] URIs

[Rick van Rein <[e-mail]>]

Hi Julian,

> The example indeed helps.

Thanks :)

> What I don't get is how this enables things that weren't
> possible before.

Compatibility with other protocols: You cannot copy/paste your gmail address to your browser to access it as webmail.  You and I may know this /~username habit, but for many out there it is going to be really helpful to use the consistency in patterns.

Consistency across servers: Even though Apache and Nginx all are capable of doing /~username and /@username and /people/username, there is a lot of variation, and that is not helpful with automation.  It would be really nice if I could take any email or XMPP address and try it as a web address without knowing a site's local habits.  Even when the [e-mail] notation gets translated.

Correct use of RFC3986 is another habit that I think deserves some warmth.

> It would be good to understand how this could be
> deployed in practice in an environment where you don't control
> implementations.

When people see this work, they are going to ask for it, I'm pretty sure of that.

> For instance, in your first step where Mary opens
> "https://[e-mail]/docs" - what happens if the UA does not
> implement it? Or in a subsequent step, what happens if the server
> ignores the new header field?

Initially this will be locally useful, as in this example.  I expect it to spread soon, as it is easy and convenient.  I have come across a few people who care for convenience in browser interaction ;-)

-Rick