Subject: Client information

From: Stefanos Harhalakis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:00:51 +0300

Hi once again. I hope I'm not annoying you...

  After thinking about timezone information and considering the feedback I got 
from PHP and Konqueror developers, I'd like to discuss another more generic 
approach:

  As you know, there are two disadvantages for providing client information to 
server side scripts: security and overhead. I'm starting to believe that HTTP 
has a need for a more generic information-providing method. So... 

  What do you thing about creating a generic method for server side scripts to 
ask for extra client information? Consider this dialog:

Client visits www.example.org and gets an optional extra response code:
Information-Request: locale, timezone, location

Now the client may choose to don't do anything at all, or do another request 
providing one or more of them:
Information-Provide: locale; ....
Information-Provide: timezone; ...
Information-Provide: location; ...

  Of course the user's permission can be asked before sending this. Appart 
from that, information request may introduce and requirement levels:
Information-Require: Needed information
Information-Request: Information that will be used

  This is not complete but is a first thought...

  Do you like this more than the timezone approach?