MIME, Netscape, and sci.math.research

It is increasingly convenient to use a Web browser such as Netscape not only to read the World-Wide Web, but also to read news. Unfortunately, Netscape is frequently configured incorrectly on the systems that have it. Netscape uses the MIME convention to call on helper programs, such as xdvi and ghostview, that it can invoke to display files in special formats; this convention is also widely used in electronic mail and by other web browsers. You can have a system-wide version for Netscape and a personal version, and if the system-wide version is absent, you can fix it by installing a personal version (or by cracking the whip over your system administrator). The personal version is in the file ".mailcap" in your home directory by default.

E-mail, postings, and web files can be labelled with a specific Media Type (or MIME type) for use by a MIME-capable program. The two Media Types for use in sci.math.research (other than "text/plain", which is can be used anywhere) are "application/x-tex" and "application/x-latex". See the welcome message for details about posting TeX to sci.math.research.

However, many web files, including web pages, are labelled by suffixes rather than Media Types. For this reason Netscape also uses a file that converts suffixes to Media Types. There is also a global and local version of this file; the local version is called ".media.types" by default. You need both a Media Types file and a Mailcap file to make Netscape as useful as it was intended to be for accessing preprint servers and reading math papers on the Web in the general.