Agreed, I am just trying to guess where the author is confused and reply in a useful manner. I am guessing that too many so-called "REST APIs" return JSON response bodies without explicitly requesting them in the Accept request header. By simply using the Accept header how it is meant to be used, you can return HATEOAS, JSON, XML or whatever format you want specifically designed for the target client.
True. What I meant was a document that exposes all functionality of the network resource using hypermedia. I did not think that all responses had follow HATEOAS.) Some response should be OK returning partial data or limited functionality as long as something discoverable is explicit and comprehensive.
