Re: New URL schemes

Martin J. Dürst schrieb:
> it's in your own interest to participate in this discussion in
> a productive manner, so that we can finish quickly.

So I hope to do.  But I understand that I also need another working
group for my primary focus.  I am currently sticking my head into the
PINT group, which is doing some things that are related to telephones.

I hear rumors of unwritten (?) rules (?) that URLs can only reference
"Internet resources", or else they cannot be URLs.  Is that so, and
how does one determine whether a particular kind of resources is on
the Internet?  For "mailto:" URLs, my browser can send mail over UUCP,
which is not based on TCP/IP.  For "news:" URLs, my browser can start
the "readnews" program that accesses a cnews disk structure on the
local host, and does not have to use the NNTP protocol.  So it seems
hard to uphold a strict requirement on resources being "on the
Internet".

> What is absolutely not clear from your examlpes is e.g. what a
> browser is supposed to do with a "tel:" or "fax:" URL when it
> receives one. There are various widely differing possible answers

Yes and no.  The thing you "do" with a telephone number is you dial
it, to make a telephone ring on the other side of the globe, and then
you speak to the person or machine that answers.  There is no
ambiguity to this part.  How you technically accomplish this is not
and should not be specified by the URL scheme.  There could be many
ways, and this opens up to lots of inventions from software, hardware,
and system designers.  In the most low-tech scenario, a pop-up window
could show the number in enlarged digits, so the user can more easily
see it while manually dialing it.  Other scenarios include
Internet-carried telephone services.

In the same way as for "mailto:" or "news:" URLs, the user that clicks
on a telephone or fax URL in a hypertext document would have to have
his browser software configured to do the right thing, which is the
right thing for this particular user, using the Internet as a carrier
or not.  The URL scheme only provides the "service" of making the
address clickable in the browser, right?

Surely, this group will have constructive opinions on this matter.

    <p><a href="tel:+46-70-789-1609" >Call me</a> if you like this,
    and <a href="fax:+46-13-172143" >fax me</a> if you don't.


Lars Aronsson.
-- 
  Aronsson Datateknik                   <URL:tel:+46-70-789-1609>
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