[gopher] Gopher++ TITLE resource propsal, revision 1.1
This is a small revision the original gopher++ TITLE resource proposal
document; the primary change is to allow more than one TITLE resource.
A proposal for a method to include titles in gopher++ menus
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1. The problem
Gopher0 (RFC 1436) menus have no titles. When one is browsing around the
gopherspace this make no difference, but it is a big problem for
bookmarking and for automated crawlers like Veronica-2.
2. Gopher++ TITLE resource definition
A TITLE resource in a gopher++ menu is defined as follows:
filetype - i
name - the actual text of the title
selector - TITLE
host,port - dummy values
A TITLE resource is identical to a regular info resource, only the
selector is set to a specific string, "TITLE".
An example of a TITLE resource in a gopher menu:
iTitle for this Gopher resource<TAB>TITLE<TAB>dummy.host<TAB>0<CRLF>
3. Conforming client requirements
A conforming client will render any info resource with the word "TITLE"
in the selector field as a title - possibly with a bigger font or with a
different color.
A TITLE resource on the first line of a menu is considered the main
title and can be used for example as a window title and in bookmarking.
All following TITLE resources should be considered subtitles.
4. Conforming server requirements
A conforming server may include one of more TITLE resources in the
gopher menus it sends to the client. The main TITLE resource must be
sent as the first line of the menu.
5. Compatibility
The TITLE resource described here should be fully backwards compatible
with both old gopher servers and clients.
If an non-conforming server supports gophermaps, it's possible for an
author to include TITLE resources even if the server doesn't
specifically support them.
If a non-conforming client receives a TITLE resouce, it will simply
render it as informational text. As the main TITLE must be on the first
line of a menu it will look like a title to the user even if the client
doesn't specifically render it as such.
6. Example code
The Gophernicus Server version 0.5-beta (and later) automatically
inserts TITLE resources for all menus where a gophermap doesn't exist.
There is also a patch for the NSCA Mosaic 2.7ck8 gopher client which
adds support for parsing & rendering the TITLE resources.
gopher://gophernicus.org/1/software/gophernicus/server/
gopher://gophernicus.org/1/software/patches/gopher++/
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