In short: format negotiation.
Might I ask what sources you consulted before giving up and posting to
this list? I'm disappointed that folks are unable to find accurate
information on format negotiation, and I'm trying to figure out how to
fix it.
> For
>example, I have stylesheets for Arena, ViolaWWW and NaviPress that I would
>like applied to a given page, depending on which format the current
>browser uses. How can I do this? And what would I do if a browser was
>written which interpreted several *different* stylesheet formats?
I'll answer that question with a question:
For example, I have a graphic image in GIF, TIFF, and J-PEG
that I would like sent to the browser depending on which
format the browser can handle. How can I do this?
I have HTML with tables, and another version without tables.
How do I send the right data to the right clients?
I have a bandwidth-intensive version of my data, and
a low-bandwidth version of my data. How do I send the
low-bandwidth version to the folks on slow links, and
the rich version to the folks with high-speed connections?
I have a French, English, and German version of my documents.
How can I send the right one depending on the language of
the reader?
10 points to the folks who can find the answer to these questions
in the web at http://www.w3.org.
And for anybody who tries to find the info and fails, would you
send mail to me <connolly@w3.org> and to <webmaster@w3.org> describing
your trials and tribulations? We'd like to get this fixed.
Daniel W. Connolly "We believe in the interconnectedness of all things"
Research Associate, MIT/W3C PGP: EDF8 A8E4 F3BB 0F3C FD1B 7BE0 716C FF21
<connolly@w3.org> http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/People/Connolly