The presentation as part of the flow of the document is virtually
essential -- otherwise it's only a halfway solution.
> (or you _could_ use the MIME multipart mechanism to glue them
> together, but I don't see that as a very popular choice. Even if you
> did that, it would not impact the HTML spec.)
I see this as the best possible choice, at this point in time. While
not an ideal solution, it has the twin benefits of (as you say) using
entirely existing mechanisms and providing substantial functionality.
(And yes, I really do talk like that -- in fact, I used to work at
IBM.)
Allowing this would not preclude future Web-based hypermedia
mechanisms -- in fact, it would encourage them, as we become more
familiar with the limitations of HTML and MIME.
Blah blah blah... anyhow, we're going to go ahead and take this
approach, so we'll see how it turns out :-).
Marc