- From: Butler, Mark H (Labs Bristol) <mark-h.butler@hp.com>
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 14:07:15 -0000
- To: <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>
Hi, The W3C RDF validator is very useful as it is often hard for people who aren't particularly familiar with RDF or RDFS to get it right. However I observe when people write RDF and RDFS, there are a lot of common mistakes or questionable style choices that people make. Technically they are not errors, so the validator does not pick them up. I think that having some kind of service that identified these "likely mistakes" would be very useful in encouraging the uptake of RDF. I have been working with various groups such as the DIWG, the Open Mobile Alliance, and other groups who use their specifications to try to ensure they use RDF correctly. It would be really good if these groups had tools available so they could ensure they were using RDF and RDFS correctly. For an example of the problems typically encountered, take a look at the schema on page 79 of this document produced by the 3GPP: http://www.arib.or.jp/IMT-2000/V420Sep04/5_Appendix/Rel6/26/26234-600.pd f There are a number of errors, likely mistakes and questionable style choices in the schema: 1. (Error) It has the wrong namespaces for RDF and RDFS. 2. (Error) It defines properties that are not legal XML names. 3. (Poor style?) It features unqualified use of rdf:ID 4. (Likely mistake) It uses rdfs:Property, not rdf:Property 5. (Likely mistake) It uses rdfs:Bag, not rdf:Bag 6. (Likely mistake) It defines several resources that are both type rdfs:Property and type rdfs:Bag - this is almost certainly a mistake. 7. (Poor style) It doesn't give human readable labels to properties and classes. 8. (Poor style) It omits xml:lang attributes from comments. Of these only 1, 2 and 3 are identified by the current W3C validator. It would be great if someone could extend the W3C validator so it warns users of the other likely errors? For other examples of these problems, see google: google "+www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Property" 132 hits for rdfs:Property google ""+www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Bag" 25 hits for rdfs:Bag hope this is of interest, best regards Dr Mark H. Butler mark-h.butler@hp.com HP Labs Bristol http://www.hpl.hp.com/people/marbut
Received on Wednesday, 8 December 2004 14:09:42 UTC