RE: Should not URIs be resources and not actions

["Hallam-Baker, Phillip" <pbaker at verisign.com>]

> From: Daniel Aleksandersen [mailto:aleksandersen+ietf at runbox.com] 

> Hi,
> 
> "Uniform Resource Identifier schemas describe resources. Why 
> then are some of the themost popular URIs schemas named as actions?
> 
> mailto: is an action, whilst email: is a resource. The first 
> is the standard and widely supported, and the second is not 
> the standard and is not supported by a single application.
> 
> Another example:
> tel: is a resource, whilst callto: is an action. The second 
> is supported by Skype (a popular calling software) but is not 
> a standard, and the first is the standard but not supported 
> by a single application.

The reason is historical, nothing more.

The tag mailto was used to differentiate a mail message from the action of sending a mail. At the time we had a somewhat functional view of the web and uris. Mailto was actually implemented by running a script via termcap.

There is something of a case that can be made for differentiating the mode of communiction: mailto, jabberto etc. Mailto can take a subject argument for instance. But its not a case I would argue for myself. The parameters are much better handled in other ways. The mailto URI should be regarded as a generalized contact identifier for a person or a group of people.


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