Re: HTML 2.0 LAST CALL: URI vs URL

Larry Masinter (masinter@parc.xerox.com)
Sun, 4 Jun 95 20:10:20 EDT

> The URI working group is going to keep redefining things.

Not if I can help it. I suggest that the HTML 2.0 standards-track
document not attempt to make forward reference to URNs when there is
no standards-track or even widespread current practice for such.

Since standards-track HTML 2.0 is to be rooted in `current practice',
it should make reference to the standards-track RFC 1738, and say that
in HTML, a reference can be either a URL or a relative URL followed
optionally by an anchor; the interpretation of the anchor is only
defined if the URL (or partial URL) refers to a HTML 2.0 document, and
in such case, the anchor is as defined in HTML 2.0 standards. It would
be useful to make note that a particular kind of reference is one that
supplies a null partial URL followed by a '#' fragment identifier, in
which case it means a link to an anchor in the very same HTML
document.

Larry Masinter