RE: Cannot delete all archived messages at once

 
From: "Shane Clintberg" <shaneclintberg@PROTECTED>
In-Reply-To: RE: Cannot delete all archived messages at once
Date: August 31st 2005

ampersands (&) should be escaped (&) [The same is not true if typing them into your browser's location bar

check out what's in the address bar when you submit something to google

Location bar, address bar, toh-may-toh, toh-mah-toh

To clarify: If you look in the bar-in-your-browser-where-URLs-show-up-and-can-be-typed-in ;-) , an "&" is exactly what should be there But to describe that "&" anywhere inside an HTML document -- even inside an element's 'href' attribute! -- it should always be encoded as "&"

I confused things when I mistakenly said "escaped" instead of "encoded" above If you think about & as being encoded (as opposed to decoded), it'll start to make more sense why this rule exists:

Just like " ", "©" and so on, "&" is a specially /encoded/ HTML character that will get /decoded/ when parsed by an HTML parser before getting sent to the viewport (browser window), to the address/location bar, or to a cgi script

If you don't encode it, browsers will usually figure out what you meant anyway, at least if the parsing is not strict That's why Google (which has no doctype) and Dada Mail (which uses a transistional [non-strict] doctype) have gotten away with not encoding the ampersands in their source code so far

But even if you rely on browsers to act this way (just like you can rely on them to understand an unclosed

  • tag), it's still possible to run into problems with unencoded ampersands Take the following:

    http://foo com?send=Jack&copy=Jill

    which, if entered into the address bar, will send two name/value pairs to foo com But put the same URL into an HTML attribute:

    send to Jack and copy to Jill

    and the parser will see the "&copy" string in there as an encoded copyright symbol, which will break its intended function An unlikely case, to be sure

    So basically, this is one of those "best practices" that no-one will ever notice :-)

    [Note: Depending on how Dada Mail's text-to-HTML converter handles the above examples, the first URL above may "correctly" exhibit the error in the [dadadev] Web archives Mousing over its link and viewing the status bar should suffice to show you the problem ]

    when you submit something to google:

     http://www
google
com/search?

    num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=something&btnG=Search

    Justin: your long URLs are still breaking to two (or more) lines, as shown above

    • rss/atom
    ‹ RE: Cannot delete all archived messages at once
    Index
    RE: Cannot delete all archived messages at once ›
    • This mailing list is a public mailing list - anyone may join or leave, at any time.
    • This mailing list is a group discussion list (unmoderated)

    • Start a new thread, email: dadadev@dadamailproject.com

    This is the developer discussion mailing list for Dada Mail.

    If you are just looking for support Dada Mail, consult the message boards at:

    https://forum.dadamailproject.com

    Documentation for Dada Mail:

    https://dadamailproject.com/d

    Specifically, see the Error FAQ:

    https://dadamailproject.com/d/FAQ-errors.pod.html

    To post to this list, send a message to:

    mailto:dadadev@dadamailproject.com

    All subscribers of this list may post to the list itself.

    Topics that are welcome:

    • Constructive critiques on the program (I like, "x", but, "y" needs some work - here's an idea on how to make this better...)
    • Bug/Error reports
    • Bug fixes
    • Request For Comments on any changes to the program
    • Help customizing Dada Mail for your own needs
    • Patches
    • Language Translations
    • Support Documentation/Doc editing, FAQ's, etc.
    • Discussion of any changes that you would like to be committed to the next version of Dada Mail -

    Dada Mail is on Github:

    https://github.com/justingit/dada-mail/

    If you would like to fork, branch, send over PRs, open up issues, etc.

    Privacy Policy:

    This Privacy Policy is for this mailing list, and this mailing list only.

    Email addresses collection through this mailing list are used explicitly to work within this email discussion list.

    We only collect email addresses through our Closed-Loop Opt-In system.

    We don't use your email address for any other purpose.

    We won't be sharing your email address with any other entity.

    Unsubscription can be done at any time. Please contact us at: justin@dadamailproject.com for any help regarding your subscription, including removal from the mailing list.

    All mailing list messages sent from us will include a subscription removal link, which will allow you to remove yourself from this mailing list automatically, and permanently.

    All consent to use your email address for any other purpose stated at the time of the mailing list subscription will also be revoked upon mailing list removal.