[microformats-discuss] Blog post format thoughts on xentry: entrylink, id, updated

[David Janes -- BlogMatrix]

Geoffrey Glass wrote:
> I am updating my annotation code using the class names proposed by David 
> Janes.  I want to see a standard more than particular class names.  The 
> fierce debate about even the need for a blog microformat suggests that 
> following Atom's lead is the quickest route to some kind of agreement.

I'm going to start moving these discussion points into the Wiki today 
(time permitting -- work is backloading a little) and also provide a 
place can vote (i.e. +1, +2, whatever) against the alternatives (RSS, 
Atom, and existing template format)

> 
> I'll repeat David's six class name suggestions:
> 
>  xentry
>    entrylink
>    author
>    published
>    title
>    content
> 
> The only name that causes my trouble is "entrylink", as all the others 
> match Atom element names.  The obvious alternative is "link", which does 
> match the Atom element name but may be more likely to conflict with 
> existing classes.

I'm starting to thinking that if Atom is used as the terminology, the 
top level item should be "atomentry", which keeps the prefix style there 
for non-abmiguity while being more explicit to what it's roots are.

There is also the possibility ... which I would call entirely optional 
... of doing an enclosing "atomchannel".

> Before I continue, I don't think that difficulty agreeing on additional 
> fields should prevent or delay agreement on these core six.  Even if we 
> use Atom as a precedent, we should not commit to defining microformat 
> versions of all aspects of that format.

Exactly!

> That said, there are two other required elements in Atom entries:  id 
> and updated [1].  Updated should perhaps match current talk about a 
> last-updated microformat.  Id is more difficult:  it is an IRI and may 
> not be dereferenceable.  The spec describes it as "a permanent, 
> universally unique identifier for an entry or feed" [2].  If the URL of 
> a post changes, the ID will not.  My suspicion is that the majority of 
> Atom feeds simply use the URL, but I could be mistaken (TextPattern's 
> default installation uses a hash code).
> 
> The problem is that an href element is not appropriate for something 
> that can't be dereferenced.  A title would show gobbledygook to the 
> user, and text would need to be hidden with CSS.  It also goes against 
> Tantek's principle that metadata should be visible.  In cases where the 
> id is the URL, there's no problem:
> 
> <a class="entrylink id" 
> href="http://www.geof.net/blog/2005/08/15/slug>Slug!</a>
> 
> For those with other forms of id, this is the least bad option I can 
> think of:
> 
> <code class="id">tag:geof.net,2005-08-15:blog/slug</code>

I think "id" is a good idea as an optional element for matching up 
multiple feeds, multiple HTML pages, etc. to the "real identity" of what 
the microcontent is.

What do people think of this?
<span class="id" title="tag:geof.net,2005-08-15:blog/slug" />

> The "summary" element might also be useful, but I wouldn't consider it a 
> necessity.

Yes. Here's [DPJ-1] an example of a page where the "summary" element 
would be very useful.

> Geof

[DPJ-1] http://www.canoe.ca/PlanetSun/home.html

David
http://www.blogmatrix.com