Posted by "Richard Lynch" on 11/14/05 21:01

On Sun, November 13, 2005 8:20 am, Marcus Bointon wrote:
>
> On 13 Nov 2005, at 00:17, Jasper Bryant-Greene wrote:
>
>>> seem to do that. I just tried "application/text" since I use
>>> "application/pdf" for other applications.
>>
>> Whatever it's giving the user the ability to do, it's probably
>> because the browser doesn't recognise the (invalid) MIME-Type.
>
> Quite - it's right up there with 'application/force-download'. If you
> want to suggest (the final choice is not yours to make) that a
> browser might download something instead of displaying it, set an
> appropriate content-disposition header instead of setting the wrong
> type.

Errrr.

It may not be my final choice whether they download or not, but if a
browser doesn't treat:
application/octet-stream
as a download, and only as a download, then that browser is pretty
broken.

Letting the user configure their browser for that MIME type to be
opened by an application is just plain wrong for a browser, by
specification.

If you find a browser that lets you configure application/octet-stream
to be opened with a specific application, then file a bug report with
whomever wrote that browser.

All the other johnny-come-lately hacks from Redmond to 'force'
downloads are highly suspect and non-portable, and should be avoided
if you want to keep your hair.

You can't rely on "Content-disposition ... filename" either, so you
either make the URL end in the filename you want as the default, or
you can count on some browsers using some other filename.

--
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http://l-i-e.com/artists.htm

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