Re: RDF in XHTML

"Sean B. Palmer" wrote:
> 
> Joshua Allen <joshuaa@microsoft.com>:-
> 
> > > I have little belief that a general RDF-in-XHTML solution is
> > > necessary or even a good idea, and the discussions I've heard
> > > here have not
> >
> > We hear you :-)  Some people think it is a fantastic idea, however,
> 
> What kind of applications are you looking at building for general RDF
> contained in XHTML? I think that anything too abstract (a bit like the
> stuff Seth and I regularly communicate to each other in Semenglish/N3)
> is probably best linked to from the file (a la C.F.M.), whereas
> generic applications are best shoved in the files themselves. Screen
> scraping is also an option, but it's a bit hacky.
> 
> I still believe that a Dublin Core module for XHTML m12n would be a
> good start, as would a W3C metadata profile for a "meta" link type. If
> people want to start building proprietary garbage at the same time,
> then please be my guest, but beware of the "it works for me" syndrome
> :-)

Well, Sean, perhaps everyone can eat their cake and have it too.

I'm talking with my manager about scraping up some time to devote to
developing this idea into perhaps a W3C NOTE. If you're willing to 
devote the lion's share of the prose content, I'll [hopefully] be able
to provide the DTD.

I think along with such a NOTE we could advocate best practices for
use of the DTD, as well as a standardized syntax for linking to external
metadata, along with the lines CSS takes in either having a <style>
element in <head> or a <link> to an external stylesheet. 

The whole thing should only be a few pages in length (apart from the
DTD).

Once best practices for Dublin Core in XHTML, the issues that have
been raised by that point may provide an indication on how to do this
with RDF in general. While I'm very skeptical about general RDF in
XHTML, the external link idea (with perhaps some indication of what's
at the other end of the link) might provide the necessary mechanism
to satisfy the 80/20 point.

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim, SGML/XML Grease Monkey     <mailto:altheim&#64;eng.sun.com>
XML Technology Center
Sun Microsystems, 1601 Willow Rd., MS UMPK17-102, Menlo Park, CA 94025

      the wood louse sits on a splinter and sings to the rising sap
      ain't it awful how winter lingers in springtimes lap -- archy

Received on Tuesday, 17 April 2001 16:53:57 UTC