- From: Jarno van Driel <jarno@quantumspork.nl>
- Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2013 01:58:51 +0200
- To: public-vocabs@w3.org
Hey folks,
I've asked around on the Google Webmaster forum and several semantics
communities out there but nobody seems to be able to help me out.
I need some help understanding how to markup a
http://schema.org/ItemList which contains items (for this example
http://schema.org/Product). Now I'm not just looking for the right
code here, I'm looking to really understand the theory here, so
I'm going to try to clarify certain cases and questions with code
snippets in the hope somebody can point out to me which is correct and
most of all why, so forgive me if this topic gets to be quite the
read.
The theory:
If I look at http://schema.org/docs/gs.html#microdata_embedded, it
says: 'Sometimes the value of an item property can itself be another
item with its own set of properties.' Which is clarified with the
following markup example:
<div itemprop="director" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
If I look at http://schema.org/WebPage and look at itemprop="text", it
says: 'the expected value is Text'.
If I look at http://schema.org/ItemList and look at
itemprop="itemListElement", it says: 'the expected value is Text'.
Looking at the sources at schema.org this would imply I can treat
itemprop="text" and itemprop="itemListElement" the same way, since for
both the expected value is 'Text.'
________________________________
*** Case 1 ***
Taking the mentioned theory (Sometimes the value of an item property
can itself be another item) into account and to create a
http://schema.org/ItemPage about a http://schema.org/Product that
generates a rich snippet (Structured Data Testing tool) I will
typically code something like this (be aware, the markup is simplified
for the examples mentioned in this topic):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemPage">
<div itemprop="text">
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h1 itemprop="name">Product name</h1>
<p itemprop="description">
Nec, urna tristique elit diam adipiscing ac adipiscing nunc
sed magna, adipiscing et lectus, nunc scelerisque.
</p>
<p itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
<meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="EUR" />
<span itemprop="price">99,99</span>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Here the itemprop="text" value is the
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product". The itemprop="text" itself isn't
an item. According to the specs as I interpret them from
http://schema.org/WebPage.
Now if it's true that I can treat itemprop="text" and
itemprop="itemListElement" the same way, marking up a
http://schema.org/CollectionPage with a http://schema.org/ItemList of
products, the theory leads me to create markup like this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CollectionPage">
<div itemprop="text">
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemList">
<meta itemprop="itemListOrder" content="Descending" />
<h1 itemprop="name">name text</h1>
<ul>
<li itemprop="itemListElement">
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt
text" title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</div>
</li>
<li itemprop="itemListElement">
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt
text" title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
My questions here are:
- Is it correct that the properties 'text' and 'itemListElement' can
only have an item as value but can not be an item?
- Am I correct in assuming I can treat itemprop="text" and
itemprop="itemListElement" the same way?
- Is the markup provided for the ItemPage containing a Product correct?
- Is the markup provided for the CollectionPage containing an ItemList
of Products correct?
________________________________
*** Case 2 ***
If I parse the code of the ItemPage, as mentioned in case 1, though
the Structured Data Testing tool, the Extracted structured data ends
up showing some Items without numbering. These are the items that are
the values of the item properties 'text' and 'itemListElement'. Let's
call these 'floating items' for the moment. The way I see it, these
items aren't bound to the WebPage and fall out of its 'flow'. (by lack
of knowing the proper terms I'm using my own vocabulary here) since
they're only values and therefore are not bound properly (for triple's
sake).
This lead me to think this is where itemprop="about" comes into play.
Since its expected value is a 'Thing' that declares the subject matter
of the content.
To create a http://schema.org/ItemPage about a
http://schema.org/Product without having 'floating items' in the
Extracted structured data, I came up with this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemPage">
<div itemprop="text">
<div itemprop="about" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h1 itemprop="name">Product name</h1>
<p itemprop="description">
Nec, urna tristique elit diam adipiscing ac adipiscing nunc
sed magna, adipiscing et lectus, nunc scelerisque.
</p>
<p itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
<meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="EUR" />
<span itemprop="price">99,99</span>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
In my perception this seems correct yet it doesn't produce a rich
snippet. So I thought that maybe declaring both the 'text' and 'about'
was causing a conflict and tried the same without making use of the
itemprop="text" and just the 'about' property but without success.
Still no rich snippet
To supplement the example I applied the same way of thinking to create
a http://schema.org/CollectionPage with a http://schema.org/ItemList
of products, without having 'floating items' in the Extracted
structured data and came up with this markup:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CollectionPage">
<div itemprop="text">
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemList">
<meta itemprop="itemListOrder" content="Descending" />
<h1 itemprop="name">name text</h1>
<ul>
<li itemprop="itemListElement">
<div itemprop="about" itemscope
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt
text" title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</div>
</li>
<li itemprop="itemListElement">
<div itemprop="about" itemscope
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt
text" title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
My questions here are:
- Is it even necessary to prevent 'floating' items?
- Does it matter for the semantics and how that both 'text' and
'about' properties are used in this matter?
- Where does my line of thought go wrong (since there is no rich
snippet I asume my way of thinking is false here)?
- The 'text' properties says: 'Hello world, my-[WebPage] text-value is
[this]' and the 'about' property says: 'Hello world, I-[WebPage] am
about [this]'. Doesn't that really mean the same?
- Is there a way to make use of itemprop="about" in conjunction with
an item (this case http://schema.org/Product) that still generates a
rich snippet?
________________________________
*** Case 3 ***
More or less a dozen people pointed out to me that my markup for the
ItemList mentioned in case 1 is wrong. They said that instead of
having the itemprop='itemListElement' value be an item I should have
the itemprop='itemListElement' itself be an item.
Now this is goes against the way I interpret the specs at
http://schema.org, but according to those people it is in accordance
with the microdata rules. They stated (summarising here) that to
create the proper 'Triple' the value of an item property itself can
always be another item. Unfortunately, except http://schema.org, I
can't find any (microdata) documentation which denies nor confirms
their claims. You could maybe argue that in that case I should simply
follow the specs at schema.org, yet if about 50%-60% of the people you
discuss an issue like this with, say otherwise, there has to be
something iffy.
Now if I markup a http://schema.org/ItemPage about a
http://schema.org/Product, taking their position (the value of an item
property itself can always be another item) into account, you get
this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemPage">
<div itemprop="text" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h1 itemprop="name">Product name</h1>
<p itemprop="description">
Nec, urna tristique elit diam adipiscing ac adipiscing nunc
sed magna, adipiscing et lectus, nunc scelerisque.
</p>
<p itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
<meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="EUR" />
<span itemprop="price">99,99</span>
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Putting this code though the Structured Data Testing tool and looking
at the Extracted structured data everything may seam ok yet a rich
snippet isn't generated. Which makes sense to me, since it goes
against the http://schema.org specifications, but does comply with
microdata rules as they have been explained to me several times now.
Taking the same position (the value of an item property itself can
always be another item) into account, marking up a
http://schema.org/CollectionPage with a http://schema.org/ItemList of
products, leads me to create something like this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>page title</title>
</head>
<body itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CollectionPage">
<div itemprop="text" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ItemList">
<meta itemprop="itemListOrder" content="Descending" />
<h1 itemprop="name">name text</h1>
<ul>
<li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt text"
title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</li>
<li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
<h2>
<a itemprop="url" href="http://example.com" title="title text">
<span itemprop="name">name text</span>
</a>
</h2>
<img itemprop="image" src="some-image.jpg" alt="alt text"
title="title text" />
<p itemprop="description">description text</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</body>
</html>
My questions here are:
- Is it true that according to microdata rules, the value of an item
property itself can always be another item? If so, why does schema.org
than go against those rules and is there a summary somewhere that
shows where schema.org deviates from microdata?
- If the markup provided for the ItemPage containing a Product is
correct, why doesn't the Structured Data Testing Tool show a rich
snippet?
- Is it true an itemListElement can be an item itself?
________________________________
Good, you made it until here, thanks for staying with me until this point.
I know I present three cases here but I couldn't find a shorter -more
explicative- manner to ask my questions without loosing the
correlation between the cases, so please be gentle with me. ;-)
I hope any of you can shed some light on the matter because I don't
know where else to go anymore. There is simply too little information
available for markup like this. It would be very nice if schema.org
would offer more extensive examples because almost any example I find
on the internet is simply to basic or doesn't provide sources on which
the markup is based - making it a person opinion instead of fact.
Now bring it on!
Received on Saturday, 8 June 2013 01:26:50 UTC