ISSUE-66 (Core - Ian Hickson): Last Call comments from Ian Hickson for RDFa Core 1.1 [LC Comment - RDFa Core 1.1]

ISSUE-66 (Core - Ian Hickson): Last Call comments from Ian Hickson for RDFa Core 1.1 [LC Comment - RDFa Core 1.1]

http://www.w3.org/2010/02/rdfa/track/issues/66

Raised by: Manu Sporny
On product: LC Comment - RDFa Core 1.1

RDFa Core 1.1 Last Call comments from Ian Hickson:

I believe RDFa should not have prefix-based indirection, for reasons that 
have been listed many times over the past few years; since this draft adds 
two new indirection mechanisms rather than removing any, I am not 
satisfied that my earlier feedback has been adequately addressed.

The permitted use of xmlns="" as one of the prefix declaration mechanisms 
specifically will cause serious compatibility issues for reasons that have 
similiarly been elucidated numerous times over the past few years.

The language as a whole is overly complicated, e.g. with a preponderance 
of attributes significantly beyond the minimum necessary. Again, this 
issue has been described in detail in the past.

IMHO, you should do some real usability studies (one-way glass and 
everything) like we did with microdata. Or at a minimum, see if people 
outside the RDF/RDFa community can actually use RDFa for any non-trivial 
purpose without help and actually get it right. Or indeed, the same with 
implementators. So far, every implementor I'm aware of has done it with 
fundamental bugs in their first attempt. Some have since fixed those bugs, 
but any technology can be implemented correctly _eventually_ -- whether 
the bugs get shaken out after years of work isn't the interesting 
question. What matters if you want long-term interop is whether someone 
you've never heard of can implement the technology more or less correctly 
the first time, without being pestered into fixing problems.

Received on Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:20:59 UTC