Another subject that has come up in recent discussions is an extension
that can be used to specify the purpose of a feed. For example, is the
feed an archive, is it a podcast, is it used for discovering web
services or publishing blog content, etc.
The approach that I have in mind is to use link[rel="profile"] where the
href points to a profile document of some sort.
For example,
<feed>
...
<entry>
<link rel="profile" href="http://example.com/profiles/podcast"; />
<link rel="profile" href="http://example.com/profiles/weblog"; />
...
</entry>
</feed>
The profile documents could be anything really, but generally describe
the kinds of metadata and content that the entry is expected to
contain. For instance, the podcast profile could indicate that the
entry should contain at least one link[rel="enclosure"].
Any single entry may contain multiple profile links. It is up to the
feed consumer to make sense of it all. If an entry specifies
contradictory profiles, it's up to the consumer to sort it out.
The profile documents should be dereferenceable.
Thoughts? Gripes? Praise?
- James
