The problem with assuming that you will sent HTML as printer status
is that it is highly unstructured. If all you want to do is have
ummm... wetware... read and process the status then you don't need
to worry. People are very adaptible. However, if you want to use
the status information for managment tools then you will need something
better.
And before you talk about SNMP as the answer, note that SNMP has a HORRIBLE
overhead in terms of development, bulk, etc., that simple text based systems
appear not to have.
I like text, simple formats, and the ability to parse it with a minimum
of effort. I would even reject LALR grammars - simple keyword based
tag/formats would be nice.
Patrick ("Browser De Jour Syndrome") Powell