Content Type Negotiation

Below, you should see a happy face.

A happy face

The XHTML that displays the image is: <img src="happy" alt="A happy face" /> .

Since no file extension is specified, the type is negotiated between your web browser and the server. The text in the lower-right of the image indicates which type you're actually seeing (probably PNG or GIF).

The following versions of this image are available in this directory. When your browser gets the above, it's negotiating between these:

The point is that any browser that can display any of these will be able to see the image (and the best version of it).


Copyright © , last modified 2010-07-14.