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On webpages, email addresses are usually presented as hyperlinks using the mailto:// protocol. (edit: perhaps pseudo-protocol?) The mailto:// part of the address tells your browser to start up your email client and pass on the information to it.
shipto:// is basically the same idea, except applied
to physical shipping. A shipto:// hyperlink, when clicked on, sends you to a website (configurable in your browser settings) that allows you to choose a shipping method and postage amount, and pay with your choice of payment method. It then generates a paid shipping label for you to print out.
RFC 2368: The mailto URL scheme
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2368
For comparison. Uses the browser's e-mail client to send email, after giving the user a chance to edit it. [jutta, Sep 20 2008]
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Annotation:
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Yes, but that's no big deal, and mailto:// has precisely the same inconsistency, and it isn't the only such case. HTTP is port 80, but there's no actual mailto:// port or protocol, its just a special case handled by the browser, in programming languages this is called a directive or pseudo-op[eration]. |
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The advantage over HTTP is the user, rather than the webmaster, gets to choose which site is used to handle the request. |
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"A shipto:// hyperlink, when clicked on, sends you to a website"
Then "shipto://" is really just a link, passing some parameters. You can do that already with an anchor tag. |
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It doesn't just send you to a website, just like "mailto" doesn't just pop up an email aditor. It sends you to a website (or perhaps a local plugin), you print something, glue it onto a box, and then you hand that box to someone in a uniform, who expects you to pay their employer -- and that whole dance is the "protocol". So, in that sense, that really could deserve a different URL prefix. |
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shipto: could come with a reference to a vcard that the address is filled in from. |
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"A shipto:// hyperlink, when clicked on, sends you to a website..."
Author's words, not mine. |
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I pulled a paragraph from my first annotation where I pointed out that all tags are interpreted by the browser and went on to suggest the author stump for browsers that support a configurable label printing client, much like the way browsers support e-mail clients. |
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This will be exacerbated by my wanting to ship using Bob's Transport Service, but my client doesn't support his label format. When UPS changes their label format, how does the client know and adapt to that? And unless the client maker somehow gets a cut of every shipping transaction, where's the profit model for writing it and keeping it up to date? Did I mention you need to sell this to the browser makers? |
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Taken as a web site, if I'm the owner (and I'll be happy to partner with you on this [jutta]), I can make money selling ads - and prime realesate to the highest bidding shipping company. I can show you the published rates for those companies that publish rates and estimated shipping times for the same. If I don't support your shipping company, click a link and let me know. Label updates are server-side, I don't have to worry about people using an old client, and I know you have a browser. Furthermore, I can capture people not using the "shipto://" protocol. |
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If Bob's Labels doesn't support UPS's new format, tell your browser to use Bill's Labels which does, or complain to Bob's. Or better yet, have it use UPS's tool. |
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Communicates your personal specs to any server, to allow for the most accurate drug and toy selection! Complete with a printed receipt and horoscope! |
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nothing-down -low-interest-mortgates:// |
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The best mortgages, tailored for your economic wellbeing! Just click, ensure your details are correct, and the most suitable new house is yours! |
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Bigger body part://
Drugs and excercise regimens to improve the size of certain parts of your body. |
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We're getting a bit carried away here. I'm not rebaking Google. A shipto:// URL would be more like shipto://2297 _dead_ewe_rd -bumfork,wi,usa-92795. I don't see any utility in things such as bigger -body-part://, as it leaves nothing to the imagination, it would just be redundant to do bigger-body-part://dick as nobody would go to bigger-body-part://nose for example. That would pretty much leave bigger -body-part://tits and bigger -body-part:ass, which isn't enough variety to warrant a protocol. Then again, I'm being way to serious for the 'bakery. |
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deliver at:// generates a "failed delivery
attempt" notice tattooed across the chest
of the delivery man when he tries to
deliver either 3 days before or 7 hours
after he was scheduled to. |
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