On 20/10/06, Lachlan Hunt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Doesn't this make it inappropriate for an href in the context of a
> web page?
No. The attributes: href, cite, data, src, longdesc, etc. are defined
to contain URIs, not just URLs. It is not unprecedented to use a URN in
such an attribute.
e.g. <blockquote cite="urn:isbn:0-534-37131-0">
OK, yes, that makes sense.
It would even make sense to use that same URI in
<a href="urn:isbn:0-534-37131-0">Standard C++ with Object-Oriented
Programming</a>
Unfortunately, the practical problem is that browsers generally don't do
anything useful with them, though there is nothing to prevent a browser
from loading the user's preferred online book store (e.g. Amazon.com,
Barnes and Noble, etc.) with more information about the book. Google
did a similar thing with it's AutoLink feature, which recognises plain
text ISBNs in the source and links them to Amazon.
Yes, understood.
> I completely see where you're coming from, though. If it
> were a URL then that would be more appropriate for an href surely?
Where does it say in the spec that an href attribute has to point to to
a network-retrievable resource? It explicitly allows URIs, including
both URLs and URNs.
OK, I should rephrase that to "If it were a URL then that would be
more practical for an href surely?"
> Getting more specific, it's actually an LSID for a microformat that
> is still in development. More on LSIDs here:
>
> http://lsid.sourceforge.net/#whatislsid
For future reference, when talking about a microformat, it's useful if
you actually link to something about that microformat, so it's easier to
find what you're talking about. I assume it's the species format that I
found, since it mentions LSIDs in this page.
http://microformats.org/wiki/species-brainstorming
Yes, that's the one. Apologies for not linking to it before.
> Having said all this, LSIDs can be made to behave like URLs via a
> Firefox addin:
>
> http://lsid.biopathways.org/lsid_browser/lsid_browser_1_0_0.html
>
> So perhaps sticking the LSID in the href might be useful after all.
An existing implementation is one of the strongest argument for doing
that way.
You also need to consider that it is much easier for an external 3rd
party plugin to do something with a URI when it's activated (by
registering the URI scheme with the system) than it is to do something
with the class attribute.
Good point.
> However, providing a *direct* link to the resource described by the
> LSID isn't the intended aim of the microformat; the LSID is in there
> as metadata that describe a resource, while the normal hyperlink, if
> there is one, probably points to something else entirely.
What's wrong with providing 2 links? One to the LSID, another to the
related information.
How might that work, given that you probably don't want the user to
see the LSID? For example say I have this markup:
<a href="http://www.species.com/lutra_lutra/";>View information about
<span class="taxon LSIDHere">Otters</span></a>
Given that the link goes to a page about Otters and the span is the
(very basic faux) microformat, I don't see how two links would work.
The idea it to convey precise meaning onto the microformatted words
that the words alone can't achieve.
Charles
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