so there's no question where the beginning of the reference is and
where the end of the reference is, then I should think there's no
problem.
Really, though, the gopher reference is (in gopherspeak)
Name=An arbitrary, but meaningful name
Host=gopher.micro.umn.edu
Port=70
Type=0
Path=Some Stuff
And the "href=" is just a way to squash it down to a single string.
It could just as well be a set of attributes and not a single one.
E.g.
<a gopherhost="gopher.micro.umn.edu"
gopherport="70"
gopherpath="/Some Stuff"
gophertype="0">
An arbitrary, but meaningful, name</a>
expresses the meaning of what's going on in a way that's far closer to
how SGML might do it as far as I have been able to make out...Dan is
that actually legal SGML?
This being a general flaw of URL, really - the idea was to make short
strings that are printable, but as access methods get more complex a
set of attribute=value pairs may make things quite a bit easier,
for parsing and quoting as well as mapping from one access class
(gopher links to telnet sites) to another (www native support for telnet).
Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, Msen Inc. emv@Msen.com
Msen Inc., 628 Brooks, Ann Arbor MI 48103 +1 313 998 GLOB