- From: Charles F. Munat <chas@munat.com>
- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 14:31:00 -0700
- To: "RDF Interest" <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>
Sean B. Palmer wrote: "Thus, I guess I conclude that embedding information into XHTML is quite a good idea, when you weigh up all sides of the debate." I disagree. Yes, it would be good to have a way to embed metadata right in the XHTML, but for the near future it would be better to link to a separate metadata document. Here's why I think this: The vast majority of page loads for at least the foreseeable future will be by legacy browsers unable to do anything with the metadata. If the metadata is embedded in the XHTML, all of those page loads will have to bring down the (useless) metadata. What a tremendous waste of bandwidth. If we can link to the metadata via a link element, then only those user agents needing the metadata will access it. It will still be accessible to anyone using older browsers (though they might have to look at the source to find the link), but we'll save a lot of bandwidth. I would think that this would be of concern to every site developer. Making it possible to link to metadata might encourage its early adoption. So first, let's find a mechanism to link to RDF from XHTML. Then we can find a way to embed it at our leisure. Sincerely, Charles F. Munat Seattle, Washington
Received on Monday, 16 April 2001 17:33:03 UTC