[Web4lib] Using suffixes for identifying formats

[Michael]

The IANA and RFC documents would probably be the best place to find this,
though it's hard if you don't know the structures or archives of the
protocols behind the Internet.

Here's the RFC 3778 for PDF from the RFC Archives:
http://www.rfc-archive.org/getrfc.php?rfc=3778

and look at the file extension identified clearly as .pdf (under 8. IANA
Considerations)

Whether or not archival/repository groups would handle naming
files/documents as it should be done (including extensions), is problematic,
IMHO. They *should* follow standards and protocols, but perhaps they do not
by choice, ignorance, or for other reasons.

Best,
Michael

Michael aka DrWeb | E-mail: DrWeb2 at gmail.com | Twitter: @DrWeb2

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 11:55 PM, Isidro F. Aguillo <
isidro.aguillo at cchs.csic.es> wrote:

> Dear Thomas:
>
> Thank you for your comments. This is exactly the reason for asking for a
> "official" statement supporting one of the two views. My problem is that
> search engines are using the suffixes in some filtering options and many
> people thinks like you that adding suffix is not mandatory nor needed. I am
> searching for documents relating to mandates or recommendations if they
> exists.
>
>
> El 18/01/2011 18:07, Thomas Dowling escribió:
>
>> On 01/18/2011 04:08 AM, Isidro F. Aguillo wrote:
>>
>>> Dear colleagues:
>>>
>>> A large number of pdf files currently available from many repositories
>>> are
>>> not using the .pdf suffix at all. Although this is not a major problem I
>>> think this is a "bad practice" but I do not any document stating this.
>>> Could you help me on this issue?
>>>
>> Why do you think it's a bad practice?
>>
>> There are no files on the web - only data streams.  What *ought* to matter
>> is not ".pdf" at the end of the file name but "application/pdf" at the
>> start of the stream.
>>
>> That said, many browsers remain clueless about default file names for
>> saving and downloading (if it's PDF, "output.php" is not a good guess for
>> a "Save As..." option).  They benefit from a little handholding, so when I
>> spit PDF out of a script, I usually tack on "/Something_Sensible.pdf" at
>> the end of the URL.
>>
>>
>> Thomas Dowling
>> tdowling at ohiolink.edu
>>
>>
>>
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>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> ****************************************
> Isidro F. Aguillo, HonPhD
> The Cybermetrics Lab
> CSIC
> Albasanz, 26-28. Madrid 28037. Spain
>
> isidro.aguillo at cchs.csic.es
> ****************************************
>
>