[Bug 15304] Nested <META> tags in <HEAD>

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=15304

--- Comment #13 from Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage@gmail.com> 2011-12-22 23:40:16 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #12)
> Tab, excellent questions and I should have reiterated the concerns I raised
> about these two approaches in my initial comment.
> 
> > (3) Use @itemref to manually establish the scope/prop linkage across sibling
> <meta> elements in the <head>
> 
> My concern with this approach is that it will be confusing to potential
> implementors.  I am lucky to work with a bunch of super smart engineers who
> make me feel humble every day, but even they wrestle (albeit successfully) with
> the nuances of itemref.  Moreover, a several of the Microdata parsers currently
> available do not support / properly parse the @itemref attribute.  This further
> complicates development.

I agree that it's potentially confusing.  If we had a nestable element in
<head>, it would be much better.  Them's the breaks.


> > (4) Use <div>s without any content in the <body> to carry the Microdata.
> 
> My concern with this approach is twofold.  
> 
> First, the HTML 5 Spec defines the <HEAD> element as "a collection of metadata
> for the Document" whereas <BODY> element is defined as "the main content of the
> document."   Based on these definitions, a bit of descriptive metadata, such as
> the person a document is about, seems far more appropriate for the <HEAD> than
> the <BODY>.   

Don't worry about that.  Yes, that's the general principle behind the head/body
division.  But it's not something you need to actually care about when writing
your page.


> Secondly, I am concerned that placing non-visible content in the <BODY> may be
> interpreted as "cloaking" by search providers.  Should this happen, publishers
> might actually opt not to implement microdata for feat that it would harm their
> search standings.  After all, the documentation at schema.org says the
> following of this approach:  "This technique should be used sparingly. Only use
> meta with content for information that cannot otherwise be marked up."
> [http://schema.org/docs/gs.html]
> 
> ...
> 
> I think microdata is one of the most exciting aspects of the entire HTML 5
> effort and I have done my best to be a driving force for its adoption in the
> news industry, however, the inability to (legally) nest complex metadata in the
> <HEAD> really is an obstacle to adoption.

There's no invisible content here - you're not doing things like embedding a
<div style="display:none;">ALL THE SPAM KEYWORDS</div> in your page.  You've
just got some empty <div>s carrying some Microdata - the effect is identical to
if you'd done the thing with <meta>.

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Received on Thursday, 22 December 2011 23:40:20 UTC