Let's get started

Hi there,

Thanks for joining the XML Hypermedia Community Group.  I'm pretty excited to discuss this topic,
as in the words of a colleague, the implmentation could be 'revolutionary'.

That said, there is a lot to discuss, and it is hard to know exactly where to start.  Hopefully our
chairs will help guide the conversation appropriately.

I've been looking through some relevant material on the topic of linking in XML, and I came
across the original XLink design principles, which were a riff on the XML design principles.

I started a wiki page with them.  Eventually it should simply be a link from the main page, but for now
it is the main page.

So, I riffed on the XLink principles, and I'd like to discuss that.  If the chairs want to step back
and suggest another path, that would be fine, but perhaps we could knock these points around in
email and I'll update the wiki page appropriately.

I think goals and use cases will flow from this discussion.  I distinguish hypermedia "vowels" from
affordances in a hypermedia vocabulary.  I think the language analogy is apt because of the use of the
word "language" in "XML".  There could be an interesting side discussion around grammar etc, but for
now, its just an analogy and if it doesn't work, we can change.  Vowels don't mean anything on their 
own, but when combined, can help make "words" in a "vocabulary" which is part of the "language" of XML.

Here are the vowels design principles, as I knocked them out.  Can we discuss and elaborate?  Pick any or all.

1.1 The XML Hypermedia vowels shall be based on their homologues from existing Web hypermedia vocabularies, to the greatest extent possible.
1.2 The XML Hypermedia vowels shall allow backwards-compatible hypermedia vocabulary design
1.3 The XML Hypermedia vowels shall be useful in any vocabulary of XML transferred through Web infrastructure
1.4 The XML Hypermedia vowels design shall be prepared carefully, in respect of the past and future of XML and the Web.
1.5 The XML Hypermedia vowels design shall be formal and simple
1.6 The XML Hypermedia vowels shall be recognizable by Web programmers 
1.7 The XML Hypermedia vowels are intended to be used in XML-based Web resources to allow reference to other Web resources
1.8 The XML Hypermedia vowels will allow XML Web vocabulary designers to design links appropriate to their needs.
1.9 The XML Hypermedia vowels must follow the Rule of Least Power

Here's the wiki page, for discussion as well

http://www.w3.org/community/xmlhypermedia/wiki/Main_Page

Cheers,
Peter

Received on Saturday, 21 July 2012 10:09:03 UTC