Microformats Wiki - User contributions [en]

alternates-brainstorming

2007-07-01T07:12:48Z

SeanGilligan: /* Interested Folks */

= Introduction =
This page is to talk about '''[[alternates]]''', that is, places where a user may be given several different items to choose amongst that at some logical level are considered equivalent. The best stawman so far is [[#Strawman_6_.28lists_.2B_explicit_alternator_.2B_using_existing_HTML_idiom.29|#6]].

== Discussion Participants ==

=== Editor ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]

=== Authors ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]
* Lucas Gonze
* Greg Borenstein
* KevinMarks

=== Interested Folks ===
* Joshua Kinberg
* Ernest Prabhakar
* Sean Gilligan

= Brainstorms =
== Strawman 1 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<fieldset>
<a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</fieldset>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-fieldset.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I think that is fieldset abuse -1 KevinMarks
== Strawman 2 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<select id="entryN">
<option value="example.mp3">MP3 alternative</option>
<option value="example.mov">WAV alternative</option>
<option value="example.wav">MOV alternative</option>
</select>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-select.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* butt ugly, probably beyond redemption -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* the alternatives aren't clearly links -1 KevinMarks

== Strawman 3 ==

<pre><nowiki>
<div class="altgroup">
<a class="alternate" href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</div>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
* Looks better, but we have an existing rel="alternate" in HTML

== Strawman 4 (lists) ==

An example of a list that expresses no preference.

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>

An example of a list that expresses a preference (i.e. first is best, last is worst)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

* this rocks, though I'm a little indifferent to ''altgroup''. The only downside is that 'loosely coupled' alternates may not be covered; on the other hand, this may not be so much of an issue. We will know more from the examples -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I like this a lot, and the ul/ol distinction is good, but the rel="alternate" should be there too.

== Strawman 5 (lists + explicit alternator) ==

This varies #4, explicitly stating what is being alternated. Let's say we're trying to express "location". If there was no alternates, we'd just say:

<pre><nowiki>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
</nowiki></pre>

Now, let's say that we have multiple choices. Here's what I think it should look like:

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="location alternates">
<li>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">iTunes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="example.wma" class="location">WMA</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">Windows Media</a>
</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:

* "alternates" indicates there's a bunch of choices to follow
* "location" appears multiple times because ...
* "location alternates" indicates we're _composing_ the alternates MF with "location"

Lucas Gonze:
* I fiddled around with CSS and javascript to support this and found it was pretty easy to work with. That's a big plus.
* A drawback is that it departs from existing idioms for microformats.
* A plus is that the same method can be applied to other variants of the Alternates microformat. Let's say you have some MF that depends on a class "photo" to distinguish which one of multiple IMG elements is the alternate, you can declare the OL or UL with class="photo alternates".
* Another plus is that the technique can extend out to more than one item per option, like if there must be both a photo and a location; that would be <ul class="photo location alternates" />
* I have one real doubt. If we're inventing a new syntax to extend the Alternates MF even before the ink is dry, I'm not certain it is adding anything except a hint to help search engines understand the page. I have to think about that issue a bit more.

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:
* I love the fact that it can be applied to other MFs. For example, you could do something like this to express alternate vcards for the same person...

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="vcard alternates">
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 1</li>
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 2</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

* ... that said, it'd probably be best to run this past everyone else, as it does change the way parsing would happen. Perhaps it's only valid for inner elements?

== Strawman 6 (lists + explicit alternator + using existing HTML idiom) ==

The idiom seems to apply to media files a lot, so bringing in rel=enclosure makes sense here.
At the HTML level rel="alternate" is used for stating alternatives (normally on a <nowiki><link></nowiki>, but <nowiki><link></nowiki> and <nowiki><a></nowiki> have the same semantic), and type is applied to the links as a MIME type.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3

If you are listing alternatives, use a list

So for your examples, a possible model would be (OL is used to express ordered preference)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="alternates">
<li><a href="example.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" rel="enclosure alternate" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

Following the links syntax, language alternatives can be expressed too (UL indicates no preference in order):

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="alternates">
<li><a href="enexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="en">In English</a></li>
<li><a href="esexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="es">En Espagnol</a></li>
<li><a href="deexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="de">Auf Deutsch</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: I think this retains what you have, and brings it back in line with existing HTML practices. I have a stylistic nitpick about 'alternates' rather than 'alternatives' but as HTML has already gone the other way on that I can concede it. Is class="alternates" distinct enough to prevent false positives in looking for this structure?

[[User:DrErnie|DrErnie]]: What if there is no existing attribute for selecting against? Say I have both hi-res and low-res versions of a QuickTime movie available for streaming? Is there any appropriate way to hint/label that?

[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: For streaming, I'd say use the built-in QuickTime Alternates mechanism that relies on detected bandwidth. I'd also say "don't use streaming, use fast-start download", and give the users a visible choice about which one to download (see [http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/cars/hd/ The Cars trailer] for one set of options).

[[User:AndyMabbett|Andy Mabbett]]: "alternates" is an appaling name. If "alternatives" can't be used, what about "choice"?

= See Also =
* [[alternates-examples]]
* [[alternates-brainstorming]]
* [[media-metadata-examples]] -- Yahoo's Media RSS uses this

alternates-brainstorming

2007-07-01T07:08:40Z

SeanGilligan: /* Interested Folks */

= Introduction =
This page is to talk about '''[[alternates]]''', that is, places where a user may be given several different items to choose amongst that at some logical level are considered equivalent. The best stawman so far is [[#Strawman_6_.28lists_.2B_explicit_alternator_.2B_using_existing_HTML_idiom.29|#6]].

== Discussion Participants ==

=== Editor ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]

=== Authors ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]
* Lucas Gonze
* Greg Borenstein
* KevinMarks

=== Interested Folks ===
* Joshua Kinberg
* Ernest Prabhakar
* SeanGilligan

= Brainstorms =
== Strawman 1 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<fieldset>
<a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</fieldset>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-fieldset.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I think that is fieldset abuse -1 KevinMarks
== Strawman 2 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<select id="entryN">
<option value="example.mp3">MP3 alternative</option>
<option value="example.mov">WAV alternative</option>
<option value="example.wav">MOV alternative</option>
</select>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-select.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* butt ugly, probably beyond redemption -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* the alternatives aren't clearly links -1 KevinMarks

== Strawman 3 ==

<pre><nowiki>
<div class="altgroup">
<a class="alternate" href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</div>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
* Looks better, but we have an existing rel="alternate" in HTML

== Strawman 4 (lists) ==

An example of a list that expresses no preference.

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>

An example of a list that expresses a preference (i.e. first is best, last is worst)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

* this rocks, though I'm a little indifferent to ''altgroup''. The only downside is that 'loosely coupled' alternates may not be covered; on the other hand, this may not be so much of an issue. We will know more from the examples -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I like this a lot, and the ul/ol distinction is good, but the rel="alternate" should be there too.

== Strawman 5 (lists + explicit alternator) ==

This varies #4, explicitly stating what is being alternated. Let's say we're trying to express "location". If there was no alternates, we'd just say:

<pre><nowiki>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
</nowiki></pre>

Now, let's say that we have multiple choices. Here's what I think it should look like:

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="location alternates">
<li>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">iTunes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="example.wma" class="location">WMA</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">Windows Media</a>
</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:

* "alternates" indicates there's a bunch of choices to follow
* "location" appears multiple times because ...
* "location alternates" indicates we're _composing_ the alternates MF with "location"

Lucas Gonze:
* I fiddled around with CSS and javascript to support this and found it was pretty easy to work with. That's a big plus.
* A drawback is that it departs from existing idioms for microformats.
* A plus is that the same method can be applied to other variants of the Alternates microformat. Let's say you have some MF that depends on a class "photo" to distinguish which one of multiple IMG elements is the alternate, you can declare the OL or UL with class="photo alternates".
* Another plus is that the technique can extend out to more than one item per option, like if there must be both a photo and a location; that would be <ul class="photo location alternates" />
* I have one real doubt. If we're inventing a new syntax to extend the Alternates MF even before the ink is dry, I'm not certain it is adding anything except a hint to help search engines understand the page. I have to think about that issue a bit more.

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:
* I love the fact that it can be applied to other MFs. For example, you could do something like this to express alternate vcards for the same person...

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="vcard alternates">
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 1</li>
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 2</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

* ... that said, it'd probably be best to run this past everyone else, as it does change the way parsing would happen. Perhaps it's only valid for inner elements?

== Strawman 6 (lists + explicit alternator + using existing HTML idiom) ==

The idiom seems to apply to media files a lot, so bringing in rel=enclosure makes sense here.
At the HTML level rel="alternate" is used for stating alternatives (normally on a <nowiki><link></nowiki>, but <nowiki><link></nowiki> and <nowiki><a></nowiki> have the same semantic), and type is applied to the links as a MIME type.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3

If you are listing alternatives, use a list

So for your examples, a possible model would be (OL is used to express ordered preference)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="alternates">
<li><a href="example.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" rel="enclosure alternate" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

Following the links syntax, language alternatives can be expressed too (UL indicates no preference in order):

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="alternates">
<li><a href="enexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="en">In English</a></li>
<li><a href="esexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="es">En Espagnol</a></li>
<li><a href="deexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="de">Auf Deutsch</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: I think this retains what you have, and brings it back in line with existing HTML practices. I have a stylistic nitpick about 'alternates' rather than 'alternatives' but as HTML has already gone the other way on that I can concede it. Is class="alternates" distinct enough to prevent false positives in looking for this structure?

[[User:DrErnie|DrErnie]]: What if there is no existing attribute for selecting against? Say I have both hi-res and low-res versions of a QuickTime movie available for streaming? Is there any appropriate way to hint/label that?

[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: For streaming, I'd say use the built-in QuickTime Alternates mechanism that relies on detected bandwidth. I'd also say "don't use streaming, use fast-start download", and give the users a visible choice about which one to download (see [http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/cars/hd/ The Cars trailer] for one set of options).

[[User:AndyMabbett|Andy Mabbett]]: "alternates" is an appaling name. If "alternatives" can't be used, what about "choice"?

= See Also =
* [[alternates-examples]]
* [[alternates-brainstorming]]
* [[media-metadata-examples]] -- Yahoo's Media RSS uses this

alternates-brainstorming

2007-07-01T07:08:20Z

SeanGilligan: /* Interested Folks */

= Introduction =
This page is to talk about '''[[alternates]]''', that is, places where a user may be given several different items to choose amongst that at some logical level are considered equivalent. The best stawman so far is [[#Strawman_6_.28lists_.2B_explicit_alternator_.2B_using_existing_HTML_idiom.29|#6]].

== Discussion Participants ==

=== Editor ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]

=== Authors ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]
* Lucas Gonze
* Greg Borenstein
* KevinMarks

=== Interested Folks ===
* Joshua Kinberg
* Ernest Prabhakar
* [SeanGilligan Sean Gilligan]

= Brainstorms =
== Strawman 1 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<fieldset>
<a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</fieldset>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-fieldset.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I think that is fieldset abuse -1 KevinMarks
== Strawman 2 ==
<pre><nowiki>
<select id="entryN">
<option value="example.mp3">MP3 alternative</option>
<option value="example.mov">WAV alternative</option>
<option value="example.wav">MOV alternative</option>
</select>
</nowiki></pre>

[http://www.davidjanes.com/playlist/test-select.html XHTML Sample]

=== Discussion ===

* is legal but warps XHTML definitions -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* butt ugly, probably beyond redemption -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* the alternatives aren't clearly links -1 KevinMarks

== Strawman 3 ==

<pre><nowiki>
<div class="altgroup">
<a class="alternate" href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a>
<a class="alternate" href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a>
</div>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
* Looks better, but we have an existing rel="alternate" in HTML

== Strawman 4 (lists) ==

An example of a list that expresses no preference.

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>

An example of a list that expresses a preference (i.e. first is best, last is worst)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="altgroup">
<li><a href="example.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

* this rocks, though I'm a little indifferent to ''altgroup''. The only downside is that 'loosely coupled' alternates may not be covered; on the other hand, this may not be so much of an issue. We will know more from the examples -- [[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]
* I like this a lot, and the ul/ol distinction is good, but the rel="alternate" should be there too.

== Strawman 5 (lists + explicit alternator) ==

This varies #4, explicitly stating what is being alternated. Let's say we're trying to express "location". If there was no alternates, we'd just say:

<pre><nowiki>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
</nowiki></pre>

Now, let's say that we have multiple choices. Here's what I think it should look like:

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="location alternates">
<li>
<a href="example.mp3" class="location">MP3</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">iTunes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="example.wma" class="location">WMA</a>
<br />
I ripped this one using <a href="...">Windows Media</a>
</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

=== Discussion ===

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:

* "alternates" indicates there's a bunch of choices to follow
* "location" appears multiple times because ...
* "location alternates" indicates we're _composing_ the alternates MF with "location"

Lucas Gonze:
* I fiddled around with CSS and javascript to support this and found it was pretty easy to work with. That's a big plus.
* A drawback is that it departs from existing idioms for microformats.
* A plus is that the same method can be applied to other variants of the Alternates microformat. Let's say you have some MF that depends on a class "photo" to distinguish which one of multiple IMG elements is the alternate, you can declare the OL or UL with class="photo alternates".
* Another plus is that the technique can extend out to more than one item per option, like if there must be both a photo and a location; that would be <ul class="photo location alternates" />
* I have one real doubt. If we're inventing a new syntax to extend the Alternates MF even before the ink is dry, I'm not certain it is adding anything except a hint to help search engines understand the page. I have to think about that issue a bit more.

[[User:DavidJanes|David Janes]]:
* I love the fact that it can be applied to other MFs. For example, you could do something like this to express alternate vcards for the same person...

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="vcard alternates">
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 1</li>
<li><div class="vcard">vcard 2</li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

* ... that said, it'd probably be best to run this past everyone else, as it does change the way parsing would happen. Perhaps it's only valid for inner elements?

== Strawman 6 (lists + explicit alternator + using existing HTML idiom) ==

The idiom seems to apply to media files a lot, so bringing in rel=enclosure makes sense here.
At the HTML level rel="alternate" is used for stating alternatives (normally on a <nowiki><link></nowiki>, but <nowiki><link></nowiki> and <nowiki><a></nowiki> have the same semantic), and type is applied to the links as a MIME type.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3

If you are listing alternatives, use a list

So for your examples, a possible model would be (OL is used to express ordered preference)

<pre><nowiki>
<ol class="alternates">
<li><a href="example.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg">MP3 alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.wav" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/wav">WAV alternative</a></li>
<li><a href="example.mov" rel="enclosure alternate" type="video/quicktime">MOV alternative</a></li>
</ol>
</nowiki></pre>

Following the links syntax, language alternatives can be expressed too (UL indicates no preference in order):

<pre><nowiki>
<ul class="alternates">
<li><a href="enexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="en">In English</a></li>
<li><a href="esexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="es">En Espagnol</a></li>
<li><a href="deexample.mp3" rel="enclosure alternate" type="audio/mpeg" hreflang="de">Auf Deutsch</a></li>
</ul>
</nowiki></pre>
=== Discussion ===
[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: I think this retains what you have, and brings it back in line with existing HTML practices. I have a stylistic nitpick about 'alternates' rather than 'alternatives' but as HTML has already gone the other way on that I can concede it. Is class="alternates" distinct enough to prevent false positives in looking for this structure?

[[User:DrErnie|DrErnie]]: What if there is no existing attribute for selecting against? Say I have both hi-res and low-res versions of a QuickTime movie available for streaming? Is there any appropriate way to hint/label that?

[[User:Kevin Marks|Kevin Marks]]: For streaming, I'd say use the built-in QuickTime Alternates mechanism that relies on detected bandwidth. I'd also say "don't use streaming, use fast-start download", and give the users a visible choice about which one to download (see [http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/cars/hd/ The Cars trailer] for one set of options).

[[User:AndyMabbett|Andy Mabbett]]: "alternates" is an appaling name. If "alternatives" can't be used, what about "choice"?

= See Also =
* [[alternates-examples]]
* [[alternates-brainstorming]]
* [[media-metadata-examples]] -- Yahoo's Media RSS uses this

alternates-brainstorming

2007-07-01T06:23:48Z

SeanGilligan: /* Interested Folks */

alternates-examples

2007-07-01T06:20:07Z

SeanGilligan: /* MediaRSS */

= Introduction =
This page is to collect examples of '''alternates''', that is, places where a user may be given several different items to choose amongst that at some logical level are considered equivalent.

== Discussion Participants ==

=== Editor ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]

=== Authors ===
* [http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com/ David Janes], [http://www.blogmatrix BlogMatrix, Inc.]
* Lucas Gonze
* Greg Borenstein

=== Interested Folks ===

= Specific Examples from the Wild =

== MediaRSS ==
Yahoo's [http://search.yahoo.com/mrss Media RSS] provides the <media:group> tag to group alternate choices for the same media file together. Here's an example from their spec:

<pre><nowiki>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Song Site</title>
<link>http://www.foo.com</link>
<description>Songs galore at different bitrates</description>
<item>
<title>Cool song by an artist</title>
<link>http://www.foo.com/item1.htm</link>
<media:group>
<media:content url="http://www.foo.com/song64kbps.mp3"
fileSize="1000" bitrate="64" type="audio/mpeg"
isDefault="true" expression="full"/>
<media:content url="http://www.foo.com/song128kbps.mp3"
fileSize="2000" bitrate="128" type="audio/mpeg"
expression="full"/>
<media:content url="http://www.foo.com/song256kbps.mp3"
fileSize="4000" bitrate="256" type="audio/mpeg"
expression="full"/>
<media:content url="http://www.foo.com/song512kbps.mp3.torrent"
fileSize="8000" type="application/x-bittorrent;enclosed=audio/mpeg"
expression="full"/>
<media:content url="http://www.foo.com/song.wav"
fileSize="16000" type="audio/x-wav" expression="full"/>
<media:credit role="musician">band member 1</media:credit>
<media:credit role="musician">band member 2</media:credit>
<media:category>music/artist name/album/song</media:category>
<media:rating>nonadult</media:rating>
</media:group>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
</nowiki></pre>

Note the mixing of alternates and related metadata together under the group tag.

== hVlog ==

The [http://vpip.org/ vPIP] (Videos Playing in Place) library uses a format called [http://formats.cinegage.com/index.php?title=HVlog hVlog] to identify media enclosures in blog posts.

= See Also =
* [[alternates-examples]]
* [[alternates-formats]]
* [[alternates-brainstorming]]
* [[media-metadata-examples]] -- Yahoo's Media RSS uses this