[uf-discuss] Visible Data...a Microformat requirement?

[Colin Barrett]

On Oct 26, 2006, at 8:04 AM, Ben Ward wrote:

> On 26 Oct 2006, at 18:35, Colin Barrett wrote:
>> On Oct 26, 2006, at 7:25 AM, Andy Mabbett wrote:
>>> In message
>>> <cdc278e10610260139q4b7bbf08i26486148e763b69d at mail.gmail.com>,  
>>> Ciaran
>>> McNulty <mail at ciaranmcnulty.com> writes
>>>> @rel=bookmark
>>> I've seen several people refer to such things with an opening "@"  
>>> - what
>>> does it mean?
>> I'm not sure on the etymology, but they're referring to attributes  
>> on (X)HTML tags.
>
> It's a lazy XPath-ish syntax that a has slipped into the geek  
> vocabulary (much as CSS selectors are sometimes used to quickly  
> describe a structure of elements).

Ah, XPath. My guess was CSS selectors, but the syntax there is a bit  
different.

> @ represents an attribute, so @rel=tag means @rel tag with the value  
> ‘tag’. The most advanced I've seen it get in general discussion is  
> of the form foo[@bar=sheep], which means ‘element named foo with an  
> attribute bar with value ‘sheep’.

Technically, in CSS, that would be written as foo[bar=sheep]. :P

> If people object, it's probably unreasonable to ask us not to use  
> such abbreviation, or preferably (for me at least, who likes to  
> abbreviate like that) perhaps we should document the shorthand on  
> the Wiki?

It's a handy abbreviation, and it should definitely be documented on  
the wiki (Perhaps on the mailinglist page? Unless it is used on the  
wiki as well...).

-Colin