Re: Auto-Download tags/function?
Daniel W. Connolly (connolly@hal.com)
Wed, 18 May 1994 12:55:22 -0500
In message <9405181750.AA02575@qrc.com>, John Lewis writes:
>Not sure whether this has been discussed before, but...
>
>I'm interested in some sort of tag or code which alerts the browser that a
>particular file is for downloading to the local machine only, such as .zip
>or .hqx files, so when the link is clicked, it automatically activates the
>"load to disk" or similar function and prompts for destination on the local
>drive(s).
>
>Is this a feature which exists? If not, is it a reasonable concept?
A looooooong time ago, I suggested:
<A HREF="ftp://host/file.tar.Z" CONTENT-TYPE="application/x-tarZ">
a tar file</a>
which would be enough information for the browser to decide that
the tar file is not something it can display in the reading window.
The concept was introduced in the MIME RFC. I thought we should
use it. I got vetoed, cuz timbl (and others) thought such things belong in
the protol. But this rules out FTP as a protocol. But wait! we
do use FTP protocol. So we end up with the current broken situation.
I still think I was right ;-)
Dan