Andy Mabbett wrote:
I think (at least) 3 distinctions need to be made:
- 'vanilla' semantic HTML (using non-presentational html markup
appropriate to the content it describes)
- HTML-based data formats (actually, this is what I was looking for a
term for when I suggested 'POSH')
How can something be "semantic HTML" but not be "plain old semantic
HTML"?
Well, it was suggested in a light-hearted irc conversation, more in jest
than otherwise, so I'm not about to defend this as a serious definition,
but, much as people often use 'POX' to talk about XML used as a data
format, without the formalities of specifications, schemata and
ontologies , I suggested 'POSH' as a term for talking about semantic
html as data format, without the formalities of Microformats.org
specifications or ontologies (eRDF, RDFa, GRDDL).
- Microformats (HTML data formats that have gone through the
Microformats Process - a canon of html data formats )
I see that more of a continuum than three distinct phases,
I don't see them as phases or stages either - I see them as distinct
(though related) concepts.
and I think
that, over time, people will some to see the progression from the second
to the third of your stages not so much as requiring compliance with
what is, after all an arbitrary process, but as depending on community
uptake.
Which community? microformats.org? or the broader community of html authors?
[...]
Indeed, there are already microformats, such as "nofollow", which we
recognise as such, but which do not appear to have followed that
process.
Given that, I'd perhaps redefine a 'Microformat' as an HTML convention
(can something like 'nofollow' be called a 'data format'?) endorsed by
the Microformats community.
I think it's worth enabling a distinction between 'Microformats' and
'HTML data formats' - irrespective of popularity. 'Microformats' is a
specific approach, with certain principles. Without a distinction
between 'HTML data formats' and 'Microformats', there is a risk of the
perception that:
- The microformats community endorses an html data format, when they don't.
- The developers of an HTML data format endorse the microformats
principles and approach, when they don't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Alexander
http://semwebdev.keithalexander.co.uk/blog/
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