[JDEV] Rich Text in Messages

Wed Dec 20 08:52:06 CST 2000

From: "DJ Adams" <dj.adams at pobox.com>
Subject: Re: [JDEV] Rich Text in Messages
> On Wed, Dec 20, 2000 at 04:40:05AM +0000, Celso Martinho wrote:
> > 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.
> It's not so much of a problem at all if we keep XHTML as a 'bonus' feature
> and so a rich text chat will only happen if both clients support it. Not
> that you're suggesting this, but I don't want the situation where my
client
> that doesn't know or care about XHTML prevents me from having a
conversation
> with someone who has turned that feature on on their whizzo client.

    I don't believe that would ever happen for one simple reason.  Nearly
everyone agrees that the text based <body> tag should remain intact.  It
would never prevent you from having the conversation that way.  At the
lowest level, everyone must support sending in plain text.  If they decide
to supliment this with XHTML content, it should send BOTH specifically for
this reason.