ISSUE-55: Re-enable @profile in HTML5 (draft 1)

I volunteered for an action to produce a draft document that included
@profile in HTML5:

http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/actions/144

The document attempts to address the long standing ISSUE-55:

http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/issues/55

After speaking with Julian over the weekend, we explored the possibility
that perhaps the document should focus on the concept of extending
processing behavior for user agents via @profile and @version. Perhaps
even stating that we'd like to move away from @profile (because it
hasn't been used as much as we'd like), toward something that is simpler
and has been used in both XHTML and RDFa: a specifically formatted
@version attribute.

We also wanted to provide backwards compatability for GRDDL,
Microformats, DC-HTML and other applications of @profile on HEAD. The
HTML+RDFa spec was already defining @version and @profile, so I moved
them out of that spec and into a separate document of their own, per
advice given on the HTML WG telecon two weeks ago.

This is a very rough conceptual draft and thus we could end up adopting
all of it or none of it. It attempts to find a delicate balance between
the advice given via the HTML WG, WHAT WG, and RDFa TF:

http://html5.digitalbazaar.com/specs/html5-epb.html

I expect that there will be arguments around these concepts:

1. Whether or not we should make @profile obsolete but conforming (this
   draft does that, as does the base HTML5 specification). We don't have
   to obsolete it, though I think it would be a good idea.
2. Whether or not we should depend on <link rel="profile" href="..."
   to specify profile relationships to the current document. GRDDL
   and Microformats depend on either this or #1.
3. Whether or not we should obsolete @version. RDFa would like to keep
   @version.
4. Whether or not we should adopt a new markup format for @version in
   order to make language design easier in the future while also making
   it easier for authors. This may address WHAT WG's issue with
   @version.
5. Whether or not the world would be a better place if Kanye West never
   rose to fame.

Feedback on the direction of the draft would be great. Fire away! *ducks*

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
President/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
blog: The Pirate Bay and Building an Equitable Culture
http://blog.digitalbazaar.com/2009/08/30/equitable-culture/

Received on Monday, 28 September 2009 00:04:10 UTC