Re: rdf:about

> What do you think would be a good hack-free way for an RDF statement
> in an XHTML file to refer to the file itself?

I still think that if there wasn't an rdf:about attribute in most cases that
would be adequate...:
     <p dc:title="My Paragraph">text</p>
You know that that dc:description is for the paragraph and not for some
other file...In XSLT you can simply use things like parameters if converting
stuff into RDF, but when embedding it is a bit more tricky.

> For example what do you think of   rdf:about="#"

That would look for a FragID with no content:
<p id=""/>
But I see what you mean. Maybe just rdf:about=""
However, if you have an RDF statement embedded in that page, I still believe
that it would be assumed that the statement was for that page *unless* the
rdf:about attribute was set saying otherwise.
[[[
A Description element without an about attribute represents a new resource.
Such a resource might be a surrogate, or proxy, for some other physical
resource that does not have a recognizable URI. The value of the ID
attribute of the Description element, if present, is the anchor id of this
"in-line" resource.
]]] - http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/
That means it's a new resource within whatever resource location it's in
doesn't it? So use rdf:ID's to anchor the statement within a document if you
must have an anchor for it... I remember somebody else saying they had
problems with rdf:about so they just ignored them...
If need be, why not just use server side scripting to make sure that the
rdf:about vlaue is always for that particular page or just take care when
creating files and making new URI's.

> Hmmm.  If it refers to the whole file, it's referring to itself as
> well.  Is that a problem?

No, metadata doesn't have to describe itself as well (well, you have schemas
for that).

Kindest Regards,
Sean B. Palmer
http://xhtml.waptechinfo.com/swr/
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/
"Perhaps, but let's not get bogged down in semantics."
   - Homer J. Simpson, BABF07.

Received on Sunday, 26 November 2000 18:26:48 UTC