XHTML 2 for Publishers:

1

• XHTML 2 for Publishers
• New opportunities for storing interoperable
  content and metadata
• Bob DuCharme
• XML 2007, December 3

2
About me

• Solutions Architect, Innodata Isogen
• weblog
• http//www.snee.com/bobdc.blog
• other writing
• See http//www.snee.com/bob

3
XHTML 1 where are we?

• Taken seriously by modern web designers
• Separation of structure from presentation...
• Aging SGML geek We Won!
• Well-formed parsable content...
• XHTML 1.1 WAP and PRISM as clear examples of
  value of modularization

4
XHTML 2 Where are they?

• Last Working Draft July of 2006
• Several more stages in W3C Process Last Call WD,
  Candidate Rec, Proposed Rec, Rec

5
Problems being solved

• HTML and XHTML 1 lots of thou shalt not
  guidelines. W3C Guideline documents exist for
• Accessibility
• Usability
• Internationalization
• Device Independence
• Metadata

6
Goals for XHTML 2

• Encode more semantics
• More device independence
• (Better forms XForms)
• (Less Scripting XML Events)

7
XHTML 2 Hitting a structural richness sweet
spot?

• More structural richness than XHTML 1...
• Less than DocBook...
• B2B Content

8
XHTML 1 structure

• lthtml xmlns"http//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"gt
• ltheadgt
• lttitlegtMy Web pagelt/titlegt
• lt/headgt
• ltbodygt
• lth1gtMy Web Pagelt/h1gt
• ltpgtHere is my web page.lt/pgt
• lth2gtSection 1 of my web pagelt/h2gt
• ltpgtHere is section 1 my web page.lt/pgt
• lth3gtSection 1.1 of my web pagelt/h3gt
• ltpgtHere is a subsection of my web page.lt/pgt
• lth2gtSection 2 of my web pagelt/h2gt
• ltpgtHere is section 2 of my web page.lt/pgt
• lt/bodygt
• lt/htmlgt
• This is structure?

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An XHTML 2 alternative

• ltbodygt
• lthgtMy Web Pagelt/hgt
• ltpgtHere is my web page.lt/pgt
• ltsectiongt lt!-- or ltdivgt? --gt
• lthgtSection 1 of my web pagelt/hgt
• ltpgtHere is section 1 my web page.lt/pgt
• ltsectiongt
• lthgtSection 1.1 of my web pagelt/hgt
• ltpgtHere is a subsection of my web
  page.lt/pgt
• lt/sectiongt
• lt/sectiongt
• ltsectiongt
• lthgtSection 2 of my web pagelt/hgt
• ltpgtHere is section 2 of my web page.lt/pgt
• lt/sectiongt
• lt/bodygt

10
Comparing the structures
body
h2
p
h1
p
h3
p
h2
body
section
section
p
h
section
p
p
h
h
p
h
11
Easier re-use of sections

• Cutting and pasting (promotion, demotion)
• Less problems with include insertion of content
• As many levels as you want (compare with XHTML
  1s h1 h6)

12
Different -sized h headers in CSS

• h font-family sans-serif
• font-weight bold font-size 200
• / A second-level heading /
• section h font-size 150
• / A third-level heading /
• section section h font-size 120

13
lthr/gt

• Structural or presentational?
• Steven Pemberton's Ulysses example
• Renamed to separator

14
More structure to paragraphs

• How many paragraphs here?
• After typing the following at your command line,
• ipconfig /?
• press Enter to see the options for the ipconfig
  command.

15
New options for the p element

• XHTML 1
• ltpgtAfter typing the following at your command
  line,lt/pgt
• ltpregt
• ipconfig /?
• lt/pregt
• ltpgtpress Enter to see the options for the
  ipconfig command.lt/pgt
• XHTML 2
• ltpgtAfter typing the following at your command
  line,
• ltpregt
• ipconfig /?
• lt/pregt
• press Enter to see the options for the ipconfig
  command.lt/pgt

16
Steven Pemberton example

• ltpgtAdvantages include
• ltulgt
• ltligteasier to cut and paste and keep your
  heading levels consistent.lt/ligt
• ltligtimporting sections in PHP-like
  situationslt/ligt
• ltligtyou are no longer restricted to 6 levels
  of header.lt/ligt
• lt/ulgt
• lt/pgt

17
src attribute on any element

• ltp src"map.gif"gtWalk down the steps from the
• platform turn left, and walk on to the end of
• the streetlt/pgt

18
The XHTML 2 role attribute

• ltsection classrecipegt ?
• Better
• lthtml xmlnsbob"http//www.bobmagazine.com/ns/wor
  kflow"gt
• lt!-- head, start of body element... --gt
• ltsection rolebobrecipe maingt

19
_at_role values in W3C WP

• Defined for accessibility

20
XHTML and the semantic web

• Semantic Web community how to add semantics to
  web
• (X)HTML has elements like address and kbd with
  specific semantics, but people dont use them
• (X)HTML working groups get lots of requests for
  specific new elements like person and note
• What would work best for HTML community, semweb
  community, and everyone else?
• Answer, RDFa.

21
Adding metadata to XHTML2 with RDFa

• ltsectiongt
• ltspan property"dcsubject" content"recipe"/gt
• ltspan property"fbworkflowStage"
  content"3a"/gt
• lthgtltspan property"dctitle"gtMy
  Storylt/spangtlt/hgt
• ltpgtltspan property"dcdate" content"2007-12-15"
  datatype"xsdategtDecember 15, 2007lt/spangtlt/pgt
• lt/sectiongt

22
RDFa adding more meta metadata

• ltmeta about "http//www.snee.com/bobdc.blog/2006
  /01/metametadata.html"
• property"dccreator" content"Bob DuCharme"/gt
• ltmeta about "http//www.snee.com/bobdc.blog/2006
  /01/metametadata.html"gt
• ltmeta property"dccreator" content"Bob
  DuCharme"/gt
• ltmeta property"dctitle" content"Meta-metadata
  "/gt
• ltmeta property"dcdate" content"2006-01-20"/gt
• ltmeta property"dcsubject" content"metadata"/gt
  
• ltmeta property"dcsubject"
• content"Data Model Comparison Table"/gt
• lt/metagt

23
Out-of-line metadata for specific subsections

• lthtml xmlnsbp"http//www.bobpubco.com/ns/ti/xyz"
  gt
• ltheadgt
• ltmeta propertybobnewsStandDate2006-04-03/gt
• ltmeta about"recipe13941"gt
• ltmeta property"bpComponentID"gtXZ3214lt/metagt
• ltmeta property"bpComponentType"gtRecipelt/metagt
  
• ltmeta property"bpRecipeID"gtr003423lt/metagt
• lt/metagt
• lt/headgt
• ltbodygt
• lthgtAdd Some Tex Mex Sizzle to Your Kid's
  Lunchlt/hgt
• ltsection idrecipe22143gt
• lthgtAmigo Corn Dogslt/hgt
• lt!-- li, p, etc. --gt
• lt/sectiongt
• ltsection idrecipe13941gt
• lthgtEZ Bean Tacoslt/hgt
• lt!-- li, p, etc. --gt
• lt/sectiongt

24
Summary XHTM2 gives publishers

• More structure
• More ability to store metadata
• All with flexibility
• A reason to take HTML more seriously as a content
  format, not just an output format

25

• XHTML 2 for Publishers
• New opportunities for storing interoperable
  content and metadata
• Bob DuCharme
• XML 2007