[cc-community] Q. about license metadata in <span> element and XHTML validation

Mike Linksvayer ml at creativecommons.org
Sat Jun 2 19:26:39 EDT 2007


On Sat, 2007-06-02 at 23:57 +0200, Claude Almansi wrote:
> I.e. the code you get for a "general" license (without registering the
> work) puts the "dc" metadata about the type of license in a <span>
> element,

The type/format of work you mean.  Do not specify work format, you don't
get that element.

> which the W3C code validator http://validator.w3.org/ doesn't
> accept. Whereas if you register a work under a license, the metadata
> (which also include author, right holder, title, description ecc) are
> in a <rdf:RDF> element, which the W3C code validator accepts.

I don't know what you're referring to.  CC doesn't run a registration
service.

> Sure, one goal  is that search engines should be able to read the
> metadata, and they obviously can with the <span> solution too. But why
> the difference? Why doesn't the code for a "general" license put the
> metadata in a <rdf:RDF> element too, if this what the W3C standards
> apparently require?

You're mistaken as to what valid HTML or XHTML allow.  CC used to hand
out RDF/XML *embedded in a HTML comment*.

See http://wiki.creativecommons.org/RDFa for background on what we're
using now.  It doesn't validate now, but is otherwise the least bad
option available.

> It's not just a matter of being able to put a
> http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml10 button on a site - but valid
> code makes general access possible.

Father son holy ghost amen.

-- 
  http://wiki.creativecommons.org/User:Mike_Linksvayer



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