A very good proposal and it's nice to have it published and
discussed before it is implemented! This is the way Netscape Comm.
should always take.
Some minor points follow:
>Description of the byterange URL Parameter
>
> * The byte range request is attached to the end of the URL,
> separated by a semi-colon.
What is the "end of an URL"? In
where is the "end"? Is it before the question mark or behind
"blah". Would a byterange URL be
<http://foo/bar;byterange=4-44?blah>
or
<http://foo/bar?blah;byterange=4-44?blah>
I'd prefer the former one because it integrates much more smothly
with existing applications.
> * The first byte in file is byte number 1.
What is a file? There's not necessarily a file behind a URL, and to
the client this should be totally transparent. Let's call it
document or (even more general) entity.
As other responses indicate, it is more or less a matter of
taste whether to start with 0 or 1. Just pick one (not necessarily
1 :-)) and go for it.
> If at some point there will be multiple simultaneous URL parameters,
> they should be separated by the ampersand character (just like
> multiple values are encoded in the FORM request).
Oh no, please don't pick the ampersand because of its SGMLish
implications!
BTW, some food for more thinking: It may be useful to invent some
notation for set operations, like
<http://foo/bar;(chapterrange=5-12)-((chapterrange=8)+byterange=100-1500))>
Best regards
Rainer Klute
Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute NADS - Advertising on nets
NADS GmbH
Emil-Figge-Str. 80 Tel.: +49 231 9742570
D-44227 Dortmund Fax: +49 231 9742571