Using the CLASS attribute - Request for Feedback

Hi all,

This is a request for feedback on a pending decision of the task force.

All active members of the task force are currently in agreement that the
CLASS attribute in HTML should be viewed as an rdf:type declaration on
that element. Of course, we want to do this such that no unexpected
triples are produced by unsuspecting HTML authors.

Under our proposal, here's what would happen:

EXAMPLE 1: non-namespaced CLASS

<div class="menu">
...
</div>

yields the triple:

_:div0 rdf:type :menu

where ":menu" is locally scoped (in some way we're still working on.)

This effectively expresses exactly what the HTML says: this DIV is of
type "menu", where the concept of "menu" is defined locally and likely
has nothing to do with any other web page's concept of "menu."


EXAMPLE 2: namespaced CLASS

<div class="foaf:plan">
...
</div>

yields the triple:

_:div0 rdf:type foaf:plan

exactly as expected.


Of course, multiple values for class are supported:

<div class="foo bar foaf:plan">
...
</div>

yields three triples, two of which have local meaning, the third of
which is the foaf:plan.


Please send your feedback in response to this message. There's good
precedent for using the CLASS attribute in this way (eRDF,
microformats), and we feel that the result should never yield anything
unexpected to the HTML author.

-Ben

Received on Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:10:38 UTC