[JDEV] Rich Text in Messages

Tue Dec 19 22:40:05 CST 2000

I like the idea of "feature negotiation" with the server but I'm not sure what the implications are. My guess is that it would turn out to more server work trying to guess what the client accepts and rewriting the messages to the proper "formats". It's my conviction that this should be a client-side job (even if it means bloating) and that the server should be as "low-level" as it can be and worry more about protocol features, scalability and modularity, instead of content itself.

Celso.

On Tue, Dec 19, 2000 at 08:23:31PM -0700, Dave Smith wrote:
> > > Well, if rich text is so universally essential for a good user experience,
> > > then why isn't it the default message format?  Shouldn't it be?
> > 
> > It should be.  There should be a standard syntax and clients should strip
> > anything they don't want to handle.  Session based compression should be used
> > to allow bandwidth to be minimized.
> > 
> > sdw
> 
> /me prepares for a fun discussion...
> 
> Clients should not have to know _anything_ about XHTML("rich text") in order
> to display message, IMHO. Hence the <body> tag only contains plain text. If
> you start requring that clients know how to strip out XHTML, you wind up
> requiring that they _know_ about XHTML and hey, presto -- instant client bloat.
> 
> The feature negotiation setup is an interesting approach. I would suggest that 
> embedding display/rich text capabilities with the <presence> packet that a client
> sends out would be a good way for this to work..
> 
> In theory, a client could embed extended feature support in its outbound
> <presence> updates:
> 
> <presence>
>       <x xmlns='jabber:x:capabilities'>
>             <xhtml-message/>
>             ...
>       </x>
> </..>
> 
> That would allow other clients to get pushed the proper information -- no 
> compliated semantics for request/respond stuff (although that's easy enough
> through <iq>) I just like the concept of having capability information pushed. :)
> 
> D.
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Celso Martinho            SAPO - Servidor de Apontadores Portugueses
E-Mail: celso at co.sapo.pt  # +351 21 7907138 - http://www.sapo.pt/
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