[uf-discuss] hAtom - ready for 0.1?

Mon Feb 27 15:47:58 PST 2006

On Feb 27, 2006, at 5:34 PM, Chris Casciano wrote:

>
> This is clearly part an hcard issue and a broader how do you tie all 
> these partial definitions of things together issue, but those big 
> problems aside, the fact that the current hatom definitions prohibit 
> me from implementing them on a few different sites with any 
> satisfactory solutions to either the junk data problem or the reliance 
> using an html element incorrectly (or redoing portions of sites or 
> layouts) to properly conform to hatom is the immediate 0.1 problem in 
> search of a solution.
>
>

Ok, taking a trip around the web I guess it also comes down to the 
definition of the ADDRESS element and what one expects it to contain.

My own expectation is not that it contains copyright statements, 
licensing information and links to feed information in addition to 
contact information wrt. page authorship. But then I look at Tantek's 
implementation on his blog and it works as a very tight address inside 
a list of other page related information. Works there, but where else? 
What if the presentable information is more then just one data item? 
I'm using a really silly and informal line on ChunkySoup.net that is a 
case of it not translating well to this usage:

" ChunkySoup.net is brought to you by Placenamehere and the letter J. 
Except where stated otherwise, all content on this site is ©2001-06 
Chris Casciano and is licensed under a Creative Commons license. [XHTML 
& CSS]. RSS / Atom "

Now its not a big issue to rework it so it reads differently - I 
probably should anyway, there's a lot that can be done better with the 
site -- but I just can't help thinking that i'd need to recover for 
that reworking with a bunch of CSS voodoo, avoid calling a P a P, and 
that without doing that work I have an existing 2 sentences along with 
semantics I chose a year or 3 ago as "proper" and turn that into a 
great hcard describing myself, but one lousy ADDRESS.

But I guess it is a matter of ones definition (or my defintion), 
because, one of the only other places I actually came across ADDRESS 
currently being used was w3.org which presented:

<address class="small">
<a href="/Help/Webmaster" shape="rect">Webmaster</a> · Last modified:
  $Date: 2006/02/23 02:10:16 $
  <span class="whiteout">|</span><br />

<a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer" shape="rect"><img 
src="/Icons/valid-xhtml10" alt="Valid XHTML 1.0!" height="31" 
width="88" /></a> <span class="whiteout">|</span> <a 
href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/" shape="rect"><img 
src="/Icons/valid-css" alt="Valid CSS!" height="31" width="88" /></a> 
<span class="whiteout">|</span> <a href="/WAI/WCAG1AA-Conformance" 
title="Explanation of Level Double-A Conformance" shape="rect"><img 
class="conform" height="32" width="88" src="/WAI/wcag1AA" alt="Level 
Double-A conformance icon, W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 
1.0" />
</a> <span class="whiteout">|</span>
</address>

Which to me doesn't very much feel like "contact information for a 
document"[1]. Makes me feel kinda icky actually. But maybe I'm the only 
one.

Some of the examples I hit:

Blogs or News sites where only relevant contact info is in copyright  
line or site header/logo + no entry author:
http://zeldman.com/
http://2006.sxsw.com/ (also has no visible dates in current 
presentation)
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/
http://dealmac.com/
http://placenamehere.com/

Sites where <body class="hcard author"> or some other large container 
might fit better then a short card in the footer:
http://andybudd.com/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/ (though all but 'anonymous' in the 
availability of local items for an hcard or address)
http://a.wholelottanothing.org/ (again, mostly anonymous)

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#h-7.5.6

-- 
[ Chris Casciano ]
[ chris at placenamehere.com ] [ http://placenamehere.com ]