User:Skeltoac/RelCite
rel="cite"
Draft Specification 2005-07-12
Editor/Author
Concept
Copyright
This specification is (C) 2005-2024 by the authors. However, the authors intend to submit (or already have submitted, see details in the spec) this specification to a standards body with a liberal copyright/licensing policy such as the GMPG, IETF, and/or W3C. Anyone wishing to contribute should read their copyright principles, policies and licenses (e.g. the GMPG Principles) and agree to them, including licensing of all contributions under all required licenses (e.g. CC-by 1.0 and later), before contributing.
Patents
This specification is subject to a royalty free patent policy, e.g. per the W3C Patent Policy, and IETF RFC3667 & RFC3668.
Abstract
RelCite is one of several elemental microformats. By adding rel="cite" to a hyperlink, a page indicates that the destination of that hyperlink is an authoritative source or a precedent to the current page. RelCite may be used whether an author cites by quotation:
<blockquote>Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson" rel="cite"> Thomas Jefferson</a></blockquote>
or by reference only:
<a href="http://example.com/joeschmoe/article/99/" rel="cite"> Joe Schmoe's latest rant</a> is wrong, wrong, wrong...
RelCite is also reversible, i.e. the syntax rev="cite" indicates that the current page is an authoritative source or a precedent to the destination page. This syntax may be useful when an author wishes link to off-site discussions of his own content.
The linked page MUST exist, and it is the linked page, rather than the link text that defines the citation.
RelCite is fully compatible with other microformats such as RelNoFollow and VoteLinks to indicate a very specific relationship: rel="cite vote-against nofollow"
Scope
rel="cite" is specifically designed for "citing" content, typically web pages (or portions thereof, like blog posts). "Cite" is defined as "to quote or refer to as a precedent or authority."
XMDP profile
<dl class="profile">
<dt id="rel">rel</dt>
<dd><p>
<a rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-rel">
HTML4 definition of the 'rel' attribute.</a>
Here is an additional value.</p>
<dl>
<dt id="cite">cite</dt>
<dd>Indicates that the referring page quotes or refers to
the referred page as a precedent or authority.</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt id="rev">rev</dt>
<dd><p>
<a rel="help" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#adef-rev">
HTML4 definition of the 'rev' attribute.</a>
Here is an additional value.</p>
<dl>
<dt id="cite">cite</dt>
<dd>Indicates that the referred page quotes or refers to
the referring page as a precedent or authority.</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
Citations As Interactive Metadata
rel="cite" hyperlinks are intended to be visible links on pages and posts. Note that other markup may be used to indicate citation:
<blockquote cite="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson"> Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.<cite>Thomas Jefferson</cite></blockquote>
but User Agents are not compelled to expose a link to the cited resource. Hyperlinks are preferred because they afford the user easy access to the cited resource.
Implementations
A theoretical implementation of RelCite could enable users and machines to determine the degree of separation of a given resource from a Primary resource in a "citation chain" where "Primary" denotes the first, original or most authoritative online resource for a unit of information or a discussion. By following rel="cite" links one can expect to converge on topical Primary sources; contratriwise, following rev="cite" links should bring one to resources of increasingly distant relation to one Primary while exposing other citation chains in the process.