As the World Wide Web has grown and become widespread, the use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) has become widespread as well. In particular, HTTP has become a popular transaction or transport protocol to build on top of. In ways similar to protocols built upon TCP, HTTP has become quite popular at providing basic services such as a framework for entity transport, authentication (with Basic, Digest or other),encryption (with TLS or SSL), Proxy/Firewall Boundary (PFB) transiting as well as caching and or replication. With new protocols based on HTTP becoming increasingly popular, it is important to attempt to lay a framework for using HTTP as a common transport. Most importantly, a clear mechanism is needed for extension and higher level layer detection. In addition, a set of recommendations for using HTTP in a manner consistent with the semantics and vision of the HTTP evolution group is desired to ensure that new protocols built upon HTTP are to remain compatible and functional as HTTP evolves. Finally, along with an extension mechanism, appropriate registries and or procedures are desired to avoid conflicts and compatibility issues between new extensions, higher level layered protocols and the HTTP evolution itself.