Re: XHTML2: Proposal for total separation of semantics from structure

> I'm not thinking of any syntax, the property attribute is already there in
> XHTML: 
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml2/mod-metaAttributes.html 
> 
> My classes about RDF went in one ear and out the other (that may not be an
> actual English proverb, but it is a Dutch one :)), so I'm not particularly
> knowledgeable on this subject, but... 
> 
> RDF statements consists of triples: subject, predicate, object. In the XHTML
> meta-information attributes module, a property and about attribute are
> defined, and those afaik apply to any element, not just to <meta> tags as
> shown in the examples. The property contains the predicate, the about the
> subject, and the object is the contents of the element itself. If about is
> not specified, the object is the current document as a whole. 
> 
> See also sections 23.3. and 23.4. in the above mentioned document, it has a
> number of examples... 
> 
> The rest depends on the RDF ontology that you're using. XHTML specifies a
> number of things, and Dublin Core some others. There could be a content
> meta-information ontology as well... Although I don't know how that would
> work precisely... 
> 
> property="dfn" without about attribute makes sense because the markup is
> meant to be used on a global document-level (about=""), so the statement
> says 'this is a defining instance in (about) this document'. 
> 
> property="address" would either apply to the whole document without about,
> or refer to someone/something specific when an about is present.
> 
> property="em" however doesn't really work, I think. What is the relation of
> the emphasis? Certainly not the whole document... But as I said, I'm not
> particularly knowledgeable about RDF :). Maybe I'm confusing things. 

Meta elements provide for full triplets (i.e. subject predicate and
object) for the document. However subject is limited to files and not
fragments.

23.3 examples are representative of the following:
subect = {the containing document}
predicate = {as specified by the @property value}
object = {the contects of the element}

23.4 examples are a way to specify identity discretely. Rather than
the string tomorrow, I can use the actual date. Instead of the text
"blue" I can use a URI. This is an important need fulfilled, but still
there are things missing.

What is missing is the ability to specify triplets like the meta
element, but on arbitrary elements and attributes. What is not made
clear to me is whether or not meta elements can be placed anywhere.
The examples are not clear enough for me to figure that out.

The core needs of semantics are
- an unambiguous subject
- an unambiguous object
- an unambiguous predicate

The rest is just people.

-- 

Orion Adrian

Received on Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:55:21 UTC