Microdata vocabulary syntax

The updated microdata specification is a great improvement and covers  
many use cases I can envision for it.

I would like to suggest that the spec can be simplified further by  
removing the reversed DNS labels.

Microdata supports short unqualified names, as well as fully qualified  
URIs for itemprop, itemid and itemtype.  As far as I can determine the  
reverse DNS labels do not provide any more functionality than URIs so  
the spec could be simplified by eliminating the duplication.  The  
argument could be made that reverse DNS labels are nicer to look at,  
but if aesthetics are important then authors will presumably use  
itemtype and short property names.

I also have a concern that the reverse DNS syntax introduces a new  
idiom (e.g. that http://example.com/foo == com.example.foo) which is  
new to the web.  While URIs have their own issues, they are well known  
to the web community.

-jg
freebase.com

Received on Monday, 5 October 2009 22:04:34 UTC