rel-values-issues

rel Issues

These are externally raised issues about the general use of rel with broadly varying degrees of merit. Thus some issues are REJECTED for a number of obvious reasons (but still documented here in case they are re-raised), and others contain longer discussions. Some issues may be ACCEPTED and perhaps cause changes or improved explanations in the spec. Submitted issues may (and probably will) be edited and rewritten for better terseness, clarity, calmness, rationality, and as neutral a point of view as possible. Write your issues well.

Issues

Consider using this format (copy and paste this to the end of the list to add your issues; replace ~~~ with an external link if preferred) to report issues or feedback, so that issues can show up in hAtom subscriptions of this issues page. If open issues lack this markup, please add it.

Please post one issue per entry, to make them easier to manage. Avoid combining multiple issues into single reports, as this can confuse or muddle feedback, and puts a burden of separating the discrete issues onto someone else who 1. may not have the time, and 2. may not understand the issue in the same way as the original reporter.

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* <strong class="entry-title">«Short title of issue»</strong>. «Description of Issue»
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Open issues

• open issue! 2008-01-12 raised by Andy Mabbett

• 1. I think there is a general issue with requiring @rels where publishers normally use text, not links; contrary to microformats are not... an attempt to get everyone to change their behavior..." and the principle "adapt to current behaviors"; I see no reason why microformats should not use both, with the same value. In other words, in some current and proposed microformats, properties using, say, rel-tag, rel-license, etc. (and possibly for rel-tag itself), <foo class="value"> would have the same effect as <a rel="value">. That would also be beneficial for Wikis such this one, where rel values cannot be used by editors.

open issue! 2008-02-25 raised by TobyInk

• The following is part of the rel FAQ

However, given that the 'rev' attribute has been more often misused by authors than properly used (Google Code: Web Authoring Statistics: Link Relationships) is it even a good idea to use rev at all?

The short answer is unfortunately "no". Use of "rev" SHOULD be avoided.

However, VoteLinks' use of rev has been grandfathered since it was such an early use. No future microformats should be developed that use 'rev', and any use of 'rev' (apart from the "grand-fathered" case of VoteLinks) is deprecated in microformats.

• 1. This seems entirely arbitrary to me — the dismissal of an HTML feature because it's often improperly used would also probably rule out <img alt> (often used to provide a "tooltip" or hidden text for SEO), tables (improperly used for layout) and much more. Some people improperly use it I'm sure, but that shouldn't stop us from using rev when suitable. For example, if many pages link to http://example.com/tags/foo with rel=tag, then http://example.com/tags/foo may wish to link back to them with rev=tag. The rev attribute allows people to represent the reverse representation easily without having to propose a whole new microformat.

Resolved issues

• 2007-06-06 raised by Mike Kaply

• 1. Are the rel microformats only valid on anchor tags (<A>)?
     • Yes. Other elements have no subject, for there to be a relationship with. Andy Mabbett 17:50, 11 Jan 2008 (PST)
     • They are also valid on <LINK> elements, though many microformats expressly forbid this usage. TobyInk 00:18, 25 Feb 2008 (PST)

Related pages

• issues
• rel-tag-issues
• rel
• existing rel values
• rel examples
• rel FAQ
• rel design pattern
• rel values issues
• rel-registry