There is perhaps a blurred distinction between character set and
content-encoding. I can imagine some one inventing a novel means
of encoding characters from a mix of well known and completely
novel character sets. To handle this the browser would download
a lexical analyser over the network along the lines of SUN's
HotJava. This would be combined with downloadable fonts for the
novel character sets.
To make this concrete, consider a novel mathematical notation or
perhaps novel notations for music or dance. The SGML parser is
not effected, as the character encoding is handled by a protocol
layer below the SGML entity manager.
-- Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> url = http://www.hpl.hp.co.uk/people/dsr
Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Filton Road, | tel: +44 117 922 8046
Bristol BS12 6QZ, United Kingdom | fax: +44 117 922 8924