Techniques: Document structure and metadata

I realized that the first section said that it included information
about checkpoint 3.2 (3.2 Create documents that validate to published
formal grammars. [Priority 2]) yet it didn't really say anything.  Thus,
I added a paragraph with some links.

I also made these paragraphs instead of list items.

Therefore, I propose:
<blockquote>
          1 Document structure and metadata

          Content developers should use structural markup and use it
according to
          specification. Structural elements and attribute (refer to the
index of HTML elements
          and attributes to identify them) promote consistency in
documents and supply
          information to other tools (e.g., indexing tools, search
engines, programs that extract
          tables to databases, navigation tools that use header
elements, and automatic
          translation software that translates text from one language
into another.

          1.1 Metadata

          Checkpoints in this section: 13.2, 3.2.

          Some structural elements provide information about the
document itself. This is
          called "metadata" about the document -- Metadata is
information about data.
          Well-crafted metadata can provide important orientation
information to users. HTML
          elements that provide useful information about a document
include:

          1.1.1 TITLE: The document title.

          Note that the (mandatory) TITLE element, which only appears
once in a document,
          is different from the "title" attribute, which applies to
almost every HTML 4.0 element.
          Content developers should use the "title" attribute in
accordance with the HTML 4.0
          specification. For example, "title" should be used with links
to provide information
          about the target of the link.

          1.1.2 The ADDRESS element

          This element can be used to provide information about the
creator of the page.

          1.1.3 The LINK element

          This element can be used to indicate alternative documents
(different structure,
          different language, different target device, etc.).

          1.1.4 The META element

          This element can specify arbitrary metadata for a document.
Please refer to the
          section on automatic page refresh for information on why META
should not be used
          to redirect pages.

          1.1.5 The !DOCTYPE statement

          Validating to a published formal grammar and declaring that
validation at the
          beginning of a document let's the user know that the structure
of the document is
          sound. It also let's the user agent know where to look for
semantics if it needs to.
          The W3C Validation Service validates documents against a whole
list of published
          grammars.

          It is preferable to validate to W3C grammars. Refer to
checkpoint 11.1

</blockquote>

Received on Tuesday, 1 February 2000 15:32:32 UTC