[uf-discuss] Extending hCard and hCalendar vs. strict adherence to vcard and vCalendar.

[Andy Mabbett]

In message <C6922A12-48AE-4297-A28F-70759327D23C at zenpsycho.com>, Breton
Slivka <zen at zenpsycho.com> writes

>There's a few rather obvious problems with this idea that I can see.

Which idea?

Please don't top-post.

> However, before I point them out, I will note that if the benefits of
>such a plan outweigh the problems, then go for it. However I suggest
>very carefully thinking about this before going nuts with extensions.

Who is advocating "going nuts"?

>#1. More work for implementors.  While this rarely is seen as an  issue
>for people on this list, (Tantek promotes that it's far more  important
>to make it easier for publishers), one has to consider that  if you
>specify some extension such as date of death, how likely is it  to be
>implemented by anyone other than yourself?
>
>#2. In such an implementation, what specific benefit would having a
>specific field offer over just adding a note? Are there specific use
>cases when sorting contact information by date of death, for example,
>is important?

You're criticising a wide concept by considering one suggested example.

Nonetheless, there are sufficient "dates of death" on the web to suggest
that marking them up, semantically, would be useful, and incorporating
them in hCards, ditto.

This is especially relevant when incorporating hCards into other uFs,
such as those for citations and reviews

>#3. Unreliable round tripping: This would be a fairly minor  annoyance,
>but an annoyance nonetheless.

What do you mean by "Unreliable round tripping"?

>#4. Divergent standards: Are there any other extensions to icalendar
>or vcard being done by other groups and/or vendors? Is there likely  to
>be in the future?

No, ad no. See previous discussion.

[...]

>The hCard and iCalendar standard allow  for vendor specific extensions,
>anyway, if you really really need  feature X for a specific problem.
>With a clever enough client, and  publishing implementation, this can
>probably be done with hCard and  hCalendar as is, while maintaining
>backward compatibility.

How? Feel free to use DoD as an example.

-- 
Andy Mabbett

                        Merry Bloomin' Christmas!