Re: minor fix for url-syntax-02

[Foteos Macrides <[e-mail]>]

Larry Masinter <[e-mail]> wrote:
># The 02 draft also now specifies that an empty reference should
># be treated as the current document's URL, rather that using the BASE.
>
>Isn't this "" vs "."? "" means the current URL, while "." means BASE.

	No.  In both 1808 and the 02 draft, "." resolves vs a base
of "http://a/b/c/d;p?q" to "http://a/b/c/".  No deployed browser
respects that, AFIK.  Mozilla makes it "http://a/b/c/.".  Lynx,
MSIE and Mosaic make it "http://a/b/c" (without the terminal slash,
but will have one for "./").

	1808 says "" is the "base" (lower case), which is the current
document's URL, or the BASE tag's HREF or Content-Base's value if
present.  02 says that it's the current document's URL, even if a BASE
tag or Content-Base is present.  It's just an "abnormal case" for LINKs
or Anchors, but there are lot's of FORMs out there which leave out the
ACTION expecting the 1808 behavior, so we're going to have a lot of
headaches it that 02 change is retained (which is why I asked whether
major commercial browsers are going to make that change).


>What should "#" mean?

	That's clear in both 1808 and 02.  It means get rid of any
fragment in the reference URL to yield a fragment-less result.


>As usual, I'd appreciate specific suggestions for changes.

	According to Roy's test page, MSIE and Mosaic do use the
the current document's URL for an empty reference, whereas Mozilla
and Lynx use the BASE tag if one is present (otherwise the current
document's URL).  So it would be nice to know if Mozilla is going
to go along with what's in 02, or stick with what was in 1808.

				Fote

=========================================================================
 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
 [e-mail]         222 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
=========================================================================