Re: HTML link types - how much must be specified in the standard ?

Murray Maloney (murray@sco.COM)
Tue, 16 May 95 15:39:32 EDT

Larry Masinter writes:
>
> I think 'rel=made' makes sense in all contexts, but I'm having trouble
> with 'rel=next' when the HTML document is delivered via mail or
> netnews. It wouldn't make sense for the HTML-aware newsreader to
> change what the 'next' button did if you were reading a HTML document
> using a newsreader, would it?

Good point, but there is no requirement for an author
to include a NEXT/PREVIOUS link in their document,
and the document I sent out specifically states that
a UA may choose to ignore REL/REV values. This may be
a context in which it is inappropriate for the UA
to pay any heed to the REL/REV values.

On the other hand, a clever author might build a mail or news
thread -- as Craig Hubley has recently done -- of related
documents in separate mail (or news) messages. In that case,
a user might want to be able to hyperlink to related documents
directly from the current one.

The use of the NEXT button (or command) is context-sensitive
in most threaded mail/news readers these days. _Perhaps_
the introduction of REL=PREV/NEXT would simply add another
contextual layer to the paradigm. I don't claim to have the
answers, but it does seem that one could devine/design a
practical use for various values in various contexts.
Our job is to determine where to draw the line and how to
communicate the range of possibilities to the user and
UA developer communities.