Re: Questions about HTML conventions

Roy T. Fielding (fielding@simplon.ICS.UCI.EDU)
Mon, 7 Mar 1994 10:10:06 --100


Bjoern writes:

> First, where should meta information for documents be?
>
> Already, some information are in the MIME-headers (like
> Content-type and Last-modified) but the HEAD-part of HTML
> documents have some potential.

Yes, although that assumes that the document is in HTML. This
is why the META element was added to the HTML+ specification.
Some further discussion of metainformation can be found in

http://www.ics.uci.edu/WebSoft/MOMspider/#SpecChange

> Secondly, how should <TITLE> and <H1> be used?
>
> IMO, many use <H1> as a title just because their browser presents
> the <TITLE> very anonymously - i.e., a <H1> is presented in a
> larger font and thus stands more out.

Some people repeat the title in an H1 block, some don't.
Many of my documents include an inline gif (of our University mascot)
within the H1 block. Thus, I think TITLE's and H1's should be
considered independent of each other.

It would be nice if browsers had a command to display the documents's header
information (say, in a transient pop-up window, or some such). Having the
Title and URL displayed is a necessity, but there are many other potential
metainfo which are best left hidden unless the reader explicitly requests
to see them. Otherwise, the browsing process gets too cluttered.

...Roy Fielding ICS Grad Student, University of California, Irvine USA
(fielding@ics.uci.edu)
<A HREF="http://www.ics.uci.edu/dir/grad/Software/fielding">About Roy</A>