Re: VisibleMetadata

On Mar 27, 2007, at 5:35 PM, Murray Maloney wrote:

>
> The Design Principle:
>
> [[
> VisibleMetadata: Metadata is more effective when it is directly  
> tied to user-visible deta. Invisible metadata is often incorrect,  
> out of date, or intentionally deceptive. For example, <a> is more  
> trustworthy as a cross-reference than <link>. User-visible tags are  
> more trustworthy than <meta> kewords.
> ]]
>
> The first two statements are assertions that are true when they are  
> true and not when they are not.
> Thus, I do not agree with these statements as a premise for a  
> design principle.
> I cannot agree with the example at all. I have used <link> to great  
> effect and have depended on it.
> Also, <meta> has its place.

Evidence for this principle:

- Search engines originally gave weight to "meta" keywords, but have  
abandoned them because they are so often wrong and dishonest.

- http://www.well.com/~doctorow/metacrap.htm

> That's not to say that I don't feel some sympathy for what you are  
> trying to say here,
> it's just that I can't agree with this design principle as written.
>
> What problem is this trying to solve? It seems as though this is an  
> attempt to codify
> some practice that is currently in vogue.

Note that this principle is not an absolute, it says "more  
effective". So it doesn't mean you can't have things like <link>, but  
that it's better to combine the user-visible and machine-readable  
information. Do you disagree that it is at all better? Do you think  
it's worse? Should I throw the word "prefer" in there somewhere?

Regards,
Maciej

Received on Wednesday, 28 March 2007 00:34:20 UTC