[microformats-discuss] XHTML Property Lists (Mac OS X)

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi Kevin,

On Sep 27, 2005, at 12:41 AM, Kevin Marks wrote:
> note that class="string" is implied.
> I'd keep the xml classnames, as the plist scope would clarify them.  
> So you just get integer, real, and boolean.
> NSDate I'd map to the <abbr> style date discussed passim.
> array and dictionary naturally become <ol> and <dl> as per XOXO.
> NSData is a bit of a bother - using an <a href="data:"> url (RFC  
> 2397) might make sense.

Wow, I'd never heard of RFC 2397.  Very cool.

I've updated my example based on your suggestions, and posted them here:

http://homepage.mac.com/drernie/plist.html

The only question I had was whether to use the XML-schema term  
'float' rather than the plist term 'real.'  Which gets to Ryan's  
question:

> I have a question: what would you use this for? What's the point?  
> What's the problem we're trying to solve.

Well, a couple things.  One, I've often wanted to view my plists as  
HTML, so I may as well do it in a reversible fashion.  More  
importantly, though, I've considered using plists as part of a file  
format for cross-platform applications.  Rather than having to  
evangelize adopting Apple's DTD, it seems simpler to just publish as  
XOXO.   I might even file a bug suggesting the built-in 'plutil'  
export as HTML to aid this process.

Given that usage scenario, do you think 'float' is more or less  
useful than 'real'?

-- Ernie P.

P.S.  Should that file include a profile for XOXO somewhere?