[webkit-dev] beforeload & link (esp rel prefetch)

[Julian Reschke]

On 13.01.2011 18:02, Alexey Proskuryakov wrote:
>
> 12.01.2011, в 22:42, Darin Fisher написал(а):
>
>> Supporting the Link header enables web servers to inject<link>  tags without modifying the document, which can be useful, especially for intermediaries.
>
> I'm wondering what the use cases are. To me, adding a way for metadata to change document behavior sounds like a misfeature - it adds significant complexity to the system, while taking away existing functionality. As a specific example discussed in this thread, we'd break some browser extensions like Incognito if resource loading could bypass onbeforeload. As another example, we'd break<base>  element.

Well, there are document types where you *can't* inline the metadata.

> Historically, attempts to use HTTP metadata with HTML caused significant trouble - user agents don't even agree on Content-Type handling, and more complicated features like Vary pretty much don't work at all. Is there a reason to believe that fetching resources via Link will be anything more than a source of incompatibilities and security bugs?

We should distinguish between the act of declaring the link, and the 
moment where a potential fetch actually happens (it doesn't always 
happen, after all).

I agree that stuffing things just to get a fetch to happen "earlier" 
maybe a premature optimization.

Best regards, Julian